Puffballs are fungi, so named because clouds of brown dust-like spores are emitted when the mature fruitbody bursts or is impacted. Puffballs are in the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including Calvatia, Calbovista and Lycoperdon. True puffballs do not have a visible stalk or stem. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage.
Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion. Secotioid fungi may or may not have opening caps, but in any case they often lack the vertical geotropic orientation of the hymenophore needed to allow the spores to be dispersed by wind, and the basidiospores are not forcibly discharged or otherwise prevented from being dispersed —note—some mycologists do not consider a species to be secotioid unless it has lost ballistospory.
The Boletales are an order of Agaricomycetes containing over 1300 species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes. The Boletales are now known to contain distinct groups of agarics, gasteromycetes, and other fruiting-body types.
The Sclerodermataceae are a family of fungi in the order Boletales, containing several genera of unusual fungi that little resemble boletes. Taxa, which include species commonly known as the ‘hard-skinned puffballs’, ‘earthballs’, or 'earthstars', are widespread in both temperate and tropical regions. The best known members include the earthball Scleroderma citrinum, the dye fungus Pisolithus tinctorius and the 'prettymouths' of the genus Calostoma.
Scleroderma is a genus of fungi, commonly known as earth balls, now known to belong to the Boletales order, in suborder Sclerodermatineae. The best known species are S. citrinum and S. verrucosum. They are found worldwide. Various members of this genus are used as inoculation symbionts to colonize and promote the growth of tree seedlings in nurseries. They are not edible.
The Hydnangiaceae are a family of fungi in the mushroom order Agaricales. Widespread in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world, the family contains about 30 species in four genera. Species in the Hydnangiaceae form ectomycorrhizal relationships with various species of trees in both coniferous and deciduous forests.
Calostoma is a genus of 29 species of gasteroid fungi in the suborder Sclerodermatineae. Like other gasteroid fungi, Calostoma do not have the spore discharge mechanism associated with typical gilled fungi (ballistospory), and instead have enclosed spore-bearing structures. Resembling round puffballs with raised, brightly-colored spore openings (osteoles), elevated on a thick, gelatinous stalks, species have been collected in regions of deciduous, temperate, tropical or subtropical forests. Their distribution includes eastern North America, Central America, Asia, and Australasia. The common name given to some species, "prettymouth", alludes to the brightly-colored raised openings (osteoles) that may somewhat resemble lips. Other common names include "hotlips" and "puffball in aspic".
Chalciporus is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. There are approximately 25 species in the genus.
Astraeus is a genus of fungi in the family Diplocystaceae. The genus, which has a cosmopolitan distribution, contains nine species of earthstar mushrooms. They are distinguished by the outer layer of flesh (exoperidium) that at maturity splits open in a star-shape manner to reveal a round spore sac. Additionally, they have a strongly hygroscopic character—the rays will open when moist, but when hot and dry will close to protect the spore sac. Species of Astraeus grow on the ground in ectomycorrhizal associations with trees and shrubs.
Limnoperdon is a fungal genus in the monotypic family Limnoperdaceae. The genus is also monotypic, as it contains a single species, the aquatic fungus Limnoperdon incarnatum. The species, described as new to science in 1976, produces fruit bodies that lack specialized structures such as a stem, cap and gills common in mushrooms. Rather, the fruit bodies—described as aquatic or floating puffballs—are small balls of loosely interwoven hyphae. The balls float on the surface of the water above submerged twigs. Experimental observations on the development of the fruit body, based on the growth on the fungus in pure culture, suggest that a thin strand of mycelium tethers the ball above water while it matures. Fruit bodies start out as a tuft of hyphae, then become cup-shaped, and eventually enclose around a single chamber that contains reddish spores. Initially discovered in a marsh in the state of Washington, the fungus has since been collected in Japan, South Africa, and Canada.
Pisolithus is a genus of fungi within the family Sclerodermataceae. The type species, P. arenarius, is now known to be synonymous with P. arhizus.
Hygrophoropsis is a genus of gilled fungi in the family Hygrophoropsidaceae. It was circumscribed in 1888 to contain the type species, H. aurantiaca, a widespread fungus that, based on its appearance, has been affiliated with Cantharellus, Clitocybe, and Paxillus. Modern molecular phylogenetic analysis shows that the genus belongs to the suborder Coniophorineae of the order Boletales.
Calbovista is a fungal genus containing the single species Calbovista subsculpta, commonly known as the sculptured puffball, sculptured giant puffball, and warted giant puffball. It is a common puffball of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast ranges of western North America. The puffball is more or less round with a diameter of up to 15 cm (6 in), white becoming brownish in age, and covered with shallow pyramid-shaped plates or scales. It fruits singly or in groups along roads and in open woods at high elevations, from summer to autumn.
Durianella is a fungal genus in the suborder Boletineae, family Boletaceae of the order Boletales. It contains the single species Durianella echinulata, described in 2008 and found in Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.
The gasteroid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota. Species were formerly placed in the obsolete class Gasteromycetes Fr., or the equally obsolete order Gasteromycetales Rea, because they produce spores inside their basidiocarps rather than on an outer surface. However, the class is polyphyletic, as such species—which include puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns, and false truffles—are not closely related to each other. Because they are often studied as a group, it has been convenient to retain the informal (non-taxonomic) name of "gasteroid fungi".
Podoserpula is a genus of fungi in the family Amylocorticiaceae. The genus contains two species: the type, P. pusio, commonly known as the pagoda fungus, and the "Barbie pagoda", P. miranda, officially published in 2013. Podoserpula species produce fruit bodies consisting of up to a dozen caps arranged in overlapping shelves, attached to a central axis. Its unique shape is not known to exist in any other fungi. Four varieties of P. pusio are known, which differ in their sizes, spore morphology, and distribution. The genus is known to occur in Australia and New Zealand, Venezuela, Madagascar, and New Caledonia.
The Nidulariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Commonly known as the bird's nest fungi, their fruiting bodies resemble tiny egg-filled birds' nests. As they are saprobic, feeding on decomposing organic matter, they are often seen growing on decaying wood and in soils enriched with wood chips or bark mulch; they have a widespread distribution in most ecological regions. The five genera within the family, namely, Crucibulum, Cyathus, Mycocalia, Nidula, and Nidularia, are distinguished from each other by differences in morphology and peridiole structure; more recently, phylogenetic analysis and comparison of DNA sequences is guiding new decisions in the taxonomic organization of this family.
Amylocorticiales is an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order was circumscribed in 2010 to contain mostly resupinate (crust-like) forms that have been referred to genera Anomoporia, Amyloathelia, Amylocorticiellum, Amylocorticium, Amyloxenasma, Anomoloma, Athelia, Athelopsis, Ceraceomyces, Hypochniciellum, Leptosporomyces and Serpulomyces.
Scleroderma verrucosum is a basidiomycete fungus and a member of the genus Scleroderma, or "earth balls". First described scientifically in 1791, the species has a cosmopolitan distribution, and grows in the ground in nutrient-rich, sandy soils.
Calostoma cinnabarinum is a species of gasteroid fungus in the family Sclerodermataceae, and is the type species of the genus Calostoma. It is known by several common names, including stalked puffball-in-aspic and gelatinous stalked-puffball. The fruit body has a distinctive color and overall appearance, featuring a layer of yellowish jelly surrounding a bright red, spherical head approximately 2 centimeters (0.8 in) in diameter atop a red or yellowish brown spongy stipe 1.5 to 4 cm tall. The innermost layer of the head is the gleba, containing clear or slightly yellowish elliptical spores, measuring 14–20 micrometers (µm) long by 6–9 µm across. The spore surface features a pattern of small pits, producing a net-like appearance. A widely distributed species, it grows naturally in eastern North America, Central America, northeastern South America, and East Asia. C. cinnabarinum grows on the ground in deciduous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with oaks.
