Mosaic Puffball

(Bovistella utriformis)

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

 
Mosaic Puffball
Photo by Dan W. Andree
 
Description

Mosaic Puffball is a large, common, and very widespread puffball. It is the second largest puffball in Minnesota. It occurs worldwide in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It occurs across North America but is mostly absent from the Great Plains. It is most common in the east, occasional in Minnesota. It is found from July to October in fields, meadows, pastures, shrubby areas, open woodlands, and woodland edges. It grows on the ground alone, scattered, or in groups. It obtains its nutrients from decaying organic matter (saprobic).

When it first appears, the fruiting body is globe-shaped, white to cream-colored, and 2 to 4¾ (6 to 12 cm) in diameter. The outer surface is densely covered with soft, fine, woolly hairs. As the puffball matures, it expands, it changes color, it develops a stem-like base, and the outer surface breaks up into a mosaic pattern of scaly, polygonal patches. This is the feature that gives the puffball its common name. Mature fruiting bodies are dull brown, pear-shaped, top-shaped, or pestle-shaped, 4 to 10 (10 to 25 cm) in height, and 2 to 10 (5 to 25 cm) in diameter. The upper part is often flat-topped and loaf shaped. Eventually, the upper part disintegrates from the center outward, forming a crater-like opening, and exposing the inner spore-bearing mass (gleba).

The gleba is white, soft, and cheesy at first. It soon turns yellowish to olive, then finally olive brown or dark brown and powdery. It is edible only when it is pure white throughout.

The upper part tapers gradually to the base. The base is very large and prominent, contributing up to one-half of the fruiting body’s total height. It persists long after the upper part has completely disintegrated and the spores have dispersed. The purplish-brown, cup-like, persistent base has fooled mycologists (and this writer) into believing it was a unique species.

 

Similar Species

 
Habitat and Hosts

Fields, meadows, pastures, open woodlands, and woodland edges

Ecology

Season

July to October

Distribution

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

12/25/2024    
     

Occurrence

Common in the east, occasional in Minnesota

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Fungi (fungi)

Subkingdom

Dikarya

Phylum

Basidiomycota (club fungi)

Subphylum

Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)

Class

Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)

Subclass

Agaricomycetidae

Order

Agaricales (common gilled mushrooms and allies)

Suborder

Suborder Agaricineae

Family

Lycoperdaceae (puffballs)

Genus

Bovistella

   

Order
The family Lycoperdaceae was formerly placed in the order Lycoperdales. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies resulted in a resturcturing of fungal taxonomy. Genera formerly in the families Tulostomataceae, Battarreaceae, Lycoperdaceae, and Mycenastraceae have been moved to Agaricaceae. The move has been universally accepted.

Family
This species was formerly classified as Lycoperdon utriforme, and that genus was formerly placed in the family Lycoperdaceae. Recent phylogenetic analysis showed that family to be a subgroup within the family Agaricaceae. The move has not been universally accepted. Index Fungorum, MycoBank, Catalog of Life, and NCBI all include Lycoperdon in the family Lycoperdaceae.

Genus
This species was originally classified as Lycoperdon utriforme in 1791. It has been described several times under different names, and has been transferred by mycologists a few times into other genera. Over the years it has gone by many names under several genera. A recent morphological and molecular study (V. Demoulin and Y. Rebriev, 2017) sought to clarify the correct placement. It determined that small morphological differences justify the transfer of Lycoperdon utriforme to the new genus Bovistella. The transfer has been widely but not universally accepted. Mosaic Puffball is currently referred to by various sources as Lycoperdon utriforme, Calvatia caelata, Calvatia utriformis, Handkea utriformis, and Bovistella utriformis.

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

Bovista utriformis

Calvatia caelata

Calvatia utriformis

Handkea utriformis

Lycoperdon bovista

Lycoperdon caelatum

Lycoperdon utriforme

Utraria utriformis

   

Common Names

Checkered Puffball

Mosaic Puffball

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Gleba

The inner spore-bearing mass of puffballs, earthstars, and stinkhorns. The term is also used to refer to the spore-bearing slime covering the head of a stinkhorn.

 

Saprobic

A term often used for saprotrophic fungi. Referring to fungi that obtain their nutrients from decayed organic matter.

 

 

 

 

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Luciearl

Mosaic Puffball   Mosaic Puffball

Dan W. Andree

Mosaic Puffball   Mosaic Puffball

Large Whitish Fungi...

It didn’t have much of a stem. Maybe it’s one of those Puffball mushrooms. It was maybe 6-8 inches across. Never seen one before on a prairie. 7-6-23 Norman Co. MN.

 

Mosaic Puffball...

Here is another one … I was moving the grasses out of the way to show it better in this image.

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Slideshows

Mosaic Puffball (Bovistella utriformis)
Wye Fungi

Mosaic Puffball (Bovistella utriformis)
About

Back to Puffballs

 

slideshow

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Other Videos

Nature's Mosaic - Puffball
NatureTalksandWalks

About

Jul 6, 2016

As part of 30 Days Wild by the Wildlife Trust, I'll be looking for one wild creature for each of the days of June and sharing it with you guys.

As we approach the end of the series, we meet our first fungi - the bizarre Mosaic Puffball!

Nature Talks and Walks is a mobile education service that offices wildlife workshops to schools, university, groups and as an adult speaker.

To find out more, visit our website at www.naturetalksandwalks.co.uk

Also don't forget to subscribe for more wildlife videos!

Lycoperdon utriforme, mosaic puffball, stomach fungi, Calvatia utriformis
Nature and consciousness

About

May 14, 2019

I go through the forests, mountains, hills, fields, and waters to understand the living world and to create a living mind.

Lycoperdon utriforme, mosaic puffball, stomach fungi, Calvatia utriformis

 

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Visitor Sightings
 

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Luciearl
10/9/2023

Location: Cass County

Mosaic Puffball
Dan W. Andree
7/6/2023

Location: Norman Co., Mn.

It didn’t have much of a stem. Maybe it’s one of those Puffball mushrooms. It was maybe 6-8 inches across. Never seen one before on a prairie. 7-6-23 Norman Co. MN.

Mosaic Puffball
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings

 

 

 

Binoculars

 

Created: 7/20/2023

Last Updated:

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