Lycoperdon excipuliformis - Pestle Puffball

Handkea excipuliformis - Pestle Puffball

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Lycoperdon excipuliformis (syn. Calvatia excipuliformis and Handkea excipuliformis) is sometimes referred to as the Pestle Puffball. It is edible only when young.

Very much in evidence all through the year: the dead stems of the previous season’s fruitbodies persisting well in to the following summer. These tall puffballs are common in all kinds of open woodland - most particularly on woodland edges - and under hedgerows.

Identification Guide

Description	This fungus comprises two parts. The upper, globe-like section, which is white at first and turns ochre as it ages, is initially covered in soft, pointed warts; these fall off to leave a smooth, matt surface. Inside this rounded head the spores develop.
Dimensions	Growing to a height of 10 to 20cm; head diameter 4 to 10cm; stipe diameter usually about half the head diameter;
Other features	The stipes of these large puffballs expand once the head has ruptured and released the sporesand then remain intact throughout the winter and into the following summer.
Stem	Parallel or slightly tapering in at the base; spongy; surface soon becoming wrinkled; initially white with pointed warts, but later turning ochre and becoming smooth and leathery.
Spores	Initially the spore mass (gleba) is white, becoming olive and then purple-brown at maturity.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive. Edible only when young and white throughout.
Habitat	Mycorhizal with hardwood and softwood trees but particularly common under beech trees.
Season	August to November.
Occurrence	Frequent beneath hedges, on wasteland and in all kinds of woods; particularly common on the edges of woodland clearings.
Similar species	Lycoperdon perlatum is much smaller, has a shorter stipe, and retains a mesh-like pattern when the warts are rubbed off the cap.