Tylostoma
Meyenianum.
(After Morgan.)
Plants growing on the ground, oftenest in dry and sandy regions. The genus is readily distinguished from all others of the Lycoperdaceæ by the entire peridium being mounted upon the apex of the stem. Morgan.
The genus contains but few species. Those I have found were not in condition to test. There is no report upon the edibility of any.
GENUS VIII.—CALVA´TIA Fr.
Mycelium fibrous, usually thick and cord-like, rooting from the base. Peridium large, globose and nearly sessile, or turbinate with a well-developed base; cortex a very thin adherent layer, often smooth and continuous, sometimes composed of minute spinules or granules; inner peridium a loosely woven and very fragile covering, after maturity breaking up into fragments from above downward and gradually falling away. Subgleba cellulose, mostly definitely limited and concave above, persistent; mass of spores and capillitium dense, compact, persistent a long time and slowly dissipating after the fracture of the peridium; the threads very long, slender, much branched and interwoven. Spores small, globose, usually sessile or with only a minute pedicel. Morgan.
Puffballs of the largest size, growing on the ground in fields and woods. Morgan.
I.—Sessiles.
Peridium very large, without a distinct base; subgleba nearly obsolete, the mass of spores and capillitium quite filling the interior.
C. gigantea Batsch.—gigantic. (L. bovista Linn.; L. maximum Schaeff.; L. giganteum Batsch.) Very large, 10–20 in. in diameter, obconic or depressed-globose, nearly or quite sessile, white or whitish, becoming discolored by age, smooth or slightly roughened by weak spinose or minute floccose warts, sometimes cracking in areas; capillitium and spores yellowish-green to dingy-olive. Spores smooth, 4µ in. in diameter. Edible. Peck, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Spores globose, even or sometimes minutely warted, 3.5–4.5 in. in diameter, often with a minute pedicel. Morgan.