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Calvatia Booniana
''Calvatia booniana'', the western giant puffball, is a puffball mushroom that can grow 10 to 70 centimetres (3.9 to 28 in) in diameter, as large as its close relative, the giant puffball of eastern North America and Europe. Like the giant puffball, it grows on composted soil such as in meadows, fields, and forests,, as well as on roadsides, sagebrush flats, pastures, and other sunny places. In general, western giant puffballs occur on the west side of the Rockies and giant puffballs occur on the east side. However, on the West Coast of North America the western giant puffball is replaced by the giant puffball or a closely related species. Its shape is round or a flattened sphere with no stalk, and it at least across when mature. The exterior is white or tan. Unlike giant puffballs, which are smooth, the western giant puffball is covered with plaques or large pointed warts. The interior is first firm and white, then yellow and slimy, and finally powdery. Reproduction Unlik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puffball
Puffballs are a type of fungus featuring a ball-shaped fruit body that bursts on impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores when mature. Puffballs belong to the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including '' Calvatia'', '' Calbovista'' and '' Lycoperdon''. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage. The distinguishing feature of all puffballs is that they do not have an open cap with spore-bearing gills. Instead, spores are produced internally, in a spheroidal fruit body called a ''gasterothecium'' (gasteroid 'stomach-like' basidiocarp). As the spores mature, they form a mass called a gleba in the centre of the fruitbody that is often of a distinctive color and texture. The basidiocarp remains closed until after the spores have been released from the basidia. Eventually, it develops an aperture, or dries, becomes brittle, and splits, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
