Mycenastrum corium
Description
Mycenastrum corium is a large tough-skinned puffball that splits into a star-shaped structure exposing the brown spore mass to the elements. This softball-sized puffball has very thick skin, but a soft interior. When young it looks like a species of Calvatia (perhaps a small Calvatia gigantea), and when old it looks a lot like Scleroderma polyrhizum. It is common in the Rocky Mountains and western North America, and occasional in eastern areas.
This mushroom is reported to be an arid to semi-arid species in Australia. In North America, it is most commonly found in association with horse or cow manure, or lawns. It also occurs in New Zealand and Europe.
🍽️ Mycenastrum corium is edible when the gleba is still firm and white. ❄️ You can freeze puffballs after picking them. Simply slice them up, fry the pieces, and then freeze them for later use. Another great option is to cook them into a flavorful dip, blending them with other ingredients, and freeze the dip for a tasty treat whenever you want!
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Saprobic; terrestrial; growing alone or gregariously in grassy areas--especially in manure-rich meadows and pastures, but also in lawns; summer and fall; fairly common in the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and western North America, but occasional in eastern North America.
Fruiting Body
Shaped more or less like a ball; up to 20 cm across; outer surface soft and whitish, breaking up irregularly with maturity to expose a tough brownish inner surface with skin about 2 mm thick; interior white and fleshy, becoming greenish-yellow and eventually turning to dark olive-brown or purplish-brown spore dust; without a stem or basal stem-like area.
Microscopic Features
Spores 8-12 µ; round or nearly so; spiny, with spines up to 2 µ long; sometimes appearing nearly reticulate. Capillitial threads 10-30 µ wide; thick-walled; occasionally branched; bright olive-yellow in KOH; with numerous spines and warts.
Look-Alikes
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Very similar, the latter also has a thick-walled, splitting peridium that sometimes recurves in age, but lacks the thick mycelial strands seen at the base of the gleba of Mycenastrum corium. Additionally, it differs microscopically with a different type of capillitium and nearly smooth, often ovoid spores.
Bovista pila and Scleroderma polyrhizum
Bovista pila is distinguished by a relatively thin, parchment-like peridium, that often has a metallic sheen, and elastic gleba, while Scleroderma polyrhizum, though possessing a thick-walled peridium, has a purplish-brown gleba, and also lacks strands of thickened mycelium at the base of the gleba.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: wendy_moore (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: icosahedron (CC BY 4.0)
Photo 3 - Author: sarahduhon (CC BY 4.0)
Photo 4 - Author: sarahduhon (CC BY 4.0)