Mycenastrum corium (Guers.) Desv.
Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Sér. II, 17: 147. 1842.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body 5-15 cm broad, rounded to compressed with irregular bumps and shallow depressions, the base slightly grooved or folded, attached to the substrate via a tuft of mycelium, sometimes breaking free at maturity; outer peridium white, matted tomentose, sloughing away in patches, revealing a dark-brown to dull purple-brown, thick, leathery, inner peridium, the latter weathering to light-brown or buff-brown in age; inner peridium dehiscing via cracks and fissures or recurving earthstar-like rays, or forming a large apical crater; sterile base absent.

• Gleba

  Gleba at first white, becoming olive-brown, finally dark-brown. Capillitium ornamented with conspicuous thorny projections.

• Spores

  Spores 9-11.5 µm, round, thick-walled, warted, partially reticulate; spores dark-brown in deposit.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered in pastures or around compost heaps; fruiting during the warmer months of the year whenever moisture is available.

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  The hallmark of this relatively large puffball is a thick, leathery, inner peridium, a feature that separates it from Calvatia species of similar size. Some sporocarps may be partially buried in the substrate at maturity while epigeous specimens may break free, rolling about with the wind much like members of the genus Bovista. Bovista species, however, can be easily distinguished by their smaller size and thin, papery, inner peridium. Sporocarps of Mycenastrum corium that open with earthstar-like rays may resemble Scleroderma polyrhizon, but the latter does not have a matted-tomentose peridium when young. It also differs microscopically in having spiny rather than warted spores, and lacking a capillitium with thorny projections.

• 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.
  Miller Jr., O.K., Brace, R.-L. & Evenson, V. (2005). A new subspecies of Mycenastrum corium from Colorado. Mycologia 97(2): 530-533.
  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: Mycenastrum corium (CP)
• Mushroom Observer: Mycenastrum corium (CP)
• Arora (1986): p. 689 (D & P)
• Lincoff: p. 826 (D), plate 651 (CP)
• Smith & Weber: sp. 273 (D & CP)



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