The Urban Pantheist

On Sunday we went to the Lost Pond Reservation. I was surprised at how many mushrooms I found, despite how late in the fall it is.

( more Lost Pond mushrooms )

Photo by urbpan. Location: the Riverway, Boston.

Urban species #208: Pigskin earthball Scleroderma citrinum

There's more to puffballs than you might think. Sure, they are more or less spherical mushrooms with internal spore-producing tissue, wrapped in leathery hides that open when mature, dispersing clouds of millions of spores when raindrops strike their surface; but there are many different kinds. Importantly, for mushroom foragers, there are edible kinds and poisonous kinds. One group of closely related fungi that produce tough-skinned, poisonous fruiting bodies with dark spore masses is distinguished from the true puffballs with the name "earthball." The most common species, bearing a pebbly texture resembling uncured leather, is Scleroderma citrinum, the pigskin earthball. Like Russulas and the amethyst deceiver, they are mycorhizzal, and grow only in association with the roots of trees--in the east, usually oaks. Molecular identification techniques show these mushrooms to be more closely related to certain cap-and-stem mushrooms than to true puffballs. Other common names for this mushroom include "common earthball" and "poison pigskin puffball."


Photo by cottonmanifesto.