Bovista limosa Rostr.
Meddr Grønland, Biosc. 18: 52. 1894.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body small, 5-8 (15) mm broad, subglobose, sessile, attached to the substrate by a tuft of soil-encrusting rhizomorphs; exoperidium persistent, a thin, white, flocculose tomentum, becoming appressed with maturity, shrinking unevenly to form low, buff-colored areolae, and exposing in areas a glabrous, dull-brown, papery-thin endoperidium; spores released via a small, raised apical pore; gleba sub-elastic, tobacco-brown in age; subgleba and sterile base absent; odor and taste not determined.

• Spores

  Spores 4.0-5.0 (5.5) µm , globose to broadly ovoid, with a central oil droplet, smooth to minutely roughened at 1000X; pedicels from 2.5-5.0 microns in length, pointed at the tip; capillitium taken from the central gleba, of the "intermediate type"; true septa absent, false septa common; pores absent to rare.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered in small groups in moist soil of montane meadows and riparian corridors (see Comments); fruiting from late spring to early fall; rare to occasional in wet years; easily overlooked because of its size.

• Edibility

  Unknown; too small to have culinary value.

• Comments

  Bovista limosa is California's smallest puffball, the globose fruiting bodies sometimes as small as a pea, rarely as large as a dime. A preference for moist montane habitats, Liliputian size, and tufted rhizomorphic substrate attachment are helpful fieldmarks, but a microscope is needed to confirm an identification as several Bovista species are similar. Microscopically, Bovista limosa is distinguished by an "intermediate type" capillitium, so named because the capillitium blends features of Lycoperdon species and "true" Bovistas like Bovista plumbea. Additionally the capillitium is unusual in lacking pores, has false septa rather than "true septa", and spores that are nearly smooth with relatively long pedicels (up to 5 microns). Large specimens of Bovista limosa resemble Bovista plumbea, but the latter has a glabrous exoperidium that at maturity falls away to reveal a grey, not brown endoperidium. Bovista aestivalis and Bovista dermoxantha are also similar especially their exoperidia. They differ in their larger size and have a root-like rhizomorphic attachment to the substrate rather than a tuft of soil-binding rhizomorphs. Microscopically Bovista dermoxantha has a "Lycoperdon type" capillitium with pores of various sizes, while Bovista aestivalis, which is common in sandy areas along the coast, has an "intermediate type" capillitium with abundant small pores. Both species lack the long, spore pedicels of Bovista limosa. It should be noted that contrary to the habitat information presented here, Pegler, Laessoe, and Spooner in British Puffballs, Earthstars, and Stinkhorns, report Bovista limosa as occurring "on dunes...and on sun-exposed sites with dry, calcareous, sandy soils, with sparse lichen and moss cover." On the other hand, the species epithet, "limosa" means "mud dweller," which suggests that it can also occur in moist habitats.

• References

  Calonge, F.D. (1998). Flora Mycologica Iberica. Vol. 3. Gasteromycetes, I. Lycoperdales, Nidulariales, Phallales, Sclerodermatales, Tulostomatales. J. Cramer: Berlin, Germany. 271 p.
  Pegler, D.N., Læssøe, T. & Spooner, B.M. (1995). British Puffballs, Earthstars, and Stinkhorns. Royal Botanic Gardens: Kew, England. 255 p.
  Kreisel, H. (1967). Taxonomisch-Pflanzengeographische Monographie Der Gattung Bovista. J. Cramer: Lehre. 244 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Fred Stevens: Bovista limosa (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Bovista limosa (CP) — intermediate type capillitium
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)