Bovista plumbea Pers.: Pers.
Synops. Meth. Fung. 137. 1801.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body 1.5-3.5 cm broad, globose to slightly compressed, attached to the substrate by a tuft of mycelium; exoperidium white, glabrous, becoming buff to pale-tan and minutely tomentose, sometimes areolate; exoperidium flaking away, or peeling off in sheets, the latter typical of maturation in hot, dry conditions; endoperidium membranous, lead-grey, with or without adhering fragments of exoperidium; spores released via a small apical pore; gleba white, turning dingy yellowish, olive-brown, finally dark-brown, firm-textured; subgleba and sterile base absent.

• Spores

  Spores 5.0-6.5 x 4.0-5.5 µm, ovoid, thick-walled, nearly smooth, with a central oil droplet, and a 7.5-11.5 µm pedicel; capillitium of individual elements, not interwoven, main branches thick-walled, flexuous, rapidly tapering, forking more or less dichotomously, ochre-colored in KOH; pits absent.

• Habitat

  Scattered to clustered in disturbed areas, expecially in sparse grass; fruiting throughout the mushroom season; widely distributed.

• Edibility

  Edible when young and the gleba white, but too small to be considered for the table.

• Comments

  Bovista plumbea is a small, globose puffball, white when young, greyish in age, attached to the substrate by a tuft of mycelium. It is easily confused with immature Bovista dermoxantha, but the latter is differently colored in age, the endoperidium light-brown to ochre-brown, and is attached to the substrate by a mycelial cord. A third Bovista, B. pila resembles Bovista plumbea in color at maturity, but is larger, has a basal mycelial cord, and releases spores via cracks or tears rather than a apical pore. Of the three, Bovista plumbea is the most widely distributed and the most common.

• References

  Bates, S.T. (2004). Arizona members of the Geastraceae and Lycoperdaceae (Basidiomycota, Fungi). Masters Thesis. Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ. 445 p.
  Calonge, F.D. (1998). Flora Mycologica Iberica. Vol. 3. Gasteromycetes, I. Lycoperdales, Nidulariales, Phallales, Sclerodermatales, Tulostomatales. J. Cramer: Berlin, Germany. 271 p.
  Coker, W.C. & Couch, J.N. (1974). The Gasteromycetes of the Eastern United States and Canada. Dover Publications, Inc: New York, NY. 201 p.
  Kreisel, H. (1967). Taxonomisch-Pflanzengeographische Monographie Der Gattung Bovista. J. Cramer: Lehre. 244 p.
  Pegler, D.N., Læssøe, T. & Spooner, B.M. (1995). British Puffballs, Earthstars, and Stinkhorns. Royal Botanic Gardens: Kew, England. 255 p.
  Smith, A.H. (1951). Puffballs and Their Allies in Michigan. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI. 131 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
• Fred Stevens: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Fred Stevens: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Fred Stevens: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Fred Stevens: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Fred Stevens: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Pilze, Pilze, Pilze: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Na Grzyby: Bovista plumbea (D & CP)
• Mushroom Observer: Bovista plumbea (CP)
• Arora (1986): p. 697 (D & P)
• Arora (1991): p. 216 (D & CP)
• Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 508 (D, I, & CP)
• Jordan: p. 354 (D & CP)
• Pegler et al.: p. 140 (D), p. 141 (CP & I)



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