Puffballs 
Cup-shaped Puffball (Edible) 
Calvatia cyathiformis 
Peridium—Large, top-shaped. 
Bark or Outer Coat—Thin, adherent, smooth, and continuous, 
easily peeling off. 
Inner Coat—Pale to dark purple, loosely woven, fragile at matur- 
ity, breaking up into fragments from above downward. 
Subgleba—Short and thick, with cord-like root, persistent, cup- 
shaped, occupying %4-% the peridium. 
Spores and Threads—Violet to dark purple. Spores globose and 
warted, threads long. 
Time—August to October. 
Habitat—On the ground in meadows and pastures. 
The old name was Lycoperdon cyathtforme. Cyathiforme, 
meaning cup-shaped, is suggested by the cup-like base which 
remains after the dispersion of the spores and threads (capillitium). 
GENUS BOVISTA 
In the genus Bovisfa the rind or peridium opens by an apical 
mouth, as do the species of Lycoperdon, but the species of 
Bovista have no 
Sterile base. 
They are puff- 
balls of small 
size, growing 
in fields and 
woods. The 
outer coat is 
thin and fragile, parse i 
and scales off 
at maturity. The inner coat is thin, becoming papery, and 
then opens by an apical mouth. 
Bovista plumbea is esteemed a delicacy. It is shaped like a 
flattened globe, with a smooth, white inner coat, and a lead- 
coloured outer coat opening by an apical mouth. 
GY’ -Ath-t-fér'-mis Bé-vis'-t& Plitm’ -bé-& 
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