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| Pear Shaped Puffball, Lycoperdon pyriformes |
1. The mushroom does not grow on other mushrooms.
2. There are no gills.
3 There are no pores.
4. It lacks teeth or spines.
5. It isn't covered, or at least partially covered, by a foul smelling slime.
6. The mushroom is more or less shaped like a ball, or in this pictures case a ball raised on a stem.
7. The mushroom is smaller than the size of a fist.
This key gets us to the family Lycoperdaceae. For further keying to the species we will turn to a more technical series of identifiers:
1. The Spore case opens by pores or a fissure at the apex.
2. Has various base shapes but not radicating.
3. When mature the fruiting body looses part of its outer layer, but not in a way as to become star-like.
4. The spores inside the mature spore case are loose and powdery and any internal fibers are loose and soft.
5. There is a sterile base and chambered lacunae, with the exoperidium not peeling away from the spore case.
6. And finally, The mushrrom body is growing on wood or wood debris.
These key traits get us to Lycoperdon pyriforme:
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1.5 to 3 cm broad; 2 to 3 cm high;
pyriform to subglobose; may be plicate at juncture of enlarged portion with
stipe-like base. Connected to substrate by numerous white rhizomorphs. Pallid
to tawny brown immature, darker rusty brown at maturity -- some yellowish;
areolate patches darker. Exo breaking into areolate patches that divide into
smaller units, which on drying form minute granules. At times exo over apex
consists of small spines and granules. Remains of exo relatively persistent
and rough to touch. Apical pore slow to form, often irregular. Sterile base
slight to prominent depending on shape. On wood or sawdust on ground,
cespitose to scattered, September to heavy frost. Old cases persist to next
summer.
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Lycoperdon Pyriforme
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