Peeling Puffball

Peeling Puffball is a very common and widespread, medium-sized puffball. It appears on the ground, individually, scattered, or in groups, usually in sandy soil. It is often found in the woods under deciduous or coniferous trees, but is also found in the open on roadsides and in waste places. It obtains its nutrients from decaying organic matter (saprobic).

The fruiting body is ¾″ to 2⅜″ in diameter, sometimes wider, and ¾″ to 2″high. It is nearly globe-shaped or somewhat flattened at first, becoming broader than tall and sometimes pear-shaped at maturity. It has a short, tapered, rooting, sterile, stalk-like base that is usually well developed but inconspicuous.

The skin (peridium) is white or pinkish when young. It is covered with short, erect spines. The spines often aggregate in groups of 2 to 4 creating pyramid-shaped warts. As it ages, the outer, warty or spiny skin sloughs off in thick, irregular patches or chunks revealing the smooth, pale to dark brown inner skin below. When mature, a pore-like mouth develops at the top (apex) through which spores are released.

The flesh (spore mass) is white and firm when young, becoming greenish-brown and granular as it ages, and then grayish-brown and powdery when mature. It is reported as edible by some but reports vary and eating is not recommended.

Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) spines are smaller, they do not aggregate into pyramidal warts, and they rub off easily and individually. They do not break off in sheets.

On the ground. In the woods under hardwoods or conifers; roadsides and waste places. Usually in sandy soil.

June to October

Sources

4, 7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Common and widespread

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
The genus Lycoperdon 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
The genus name Lycoperdon is formed from the Latinized form of the Greek words lykos, meaning “wolf”, and perdesthai, meaning “to break wind”—wolf fart.

Found some peeling puffballs/Lycoperdon marginatum at Oxbow Park in Byron, MN (Olmsted County) this morning. Very prevalent along the mowed roadside trail where they are doing a prairie restoration. Must have been hundreds of them in various clusters (they weren't there last week so they recently appeared here!). I noticed our county didn't have any sightings listed for them on the map, so thought I'd shoot you an email! Attached is a picture.

Lycoperdon marginatum - fungi kingdom
Nineli Lishina

puffball demise
Brett Litton

Location: Lake Shore, MN

Location: Oxbow Park in Byron, MN (Olmsted County)

Found some peeling puffballs/Lycoperdon marginatum at Oxbow Park in Byron, MN (Olmsted County) this morning. Very prevalent along the mowed roadside trail where they are doing a prairie restoration. Must have been hundreds of them in various clusters (they weren't there last week so they recently appeared here!). I noticed our county didn't have any sightings listed for them on the map, so thought I'd shoot you an email! Attached is a picture.

Location: 44.154228, -91.971764

found near a sandy prairie bluff. Previously farmed strip