Ground and decaying wood in woods and bushy places. Croghan, Center, Brewerton and Catskill mountains. Autumn. Oneida. Warne.
The pedicellate spores constitute the peculiar feature of this species. It is one which suggests the name and which enables the species to be easily distinguished from all its allies. The spore is terminally and persistently attached to the pedicel, as in some species of Bovista. The plant is sometimes sessile, but usually it is narrowed below into a stem-like base. In the immature state it has a rough, shaggy appearance, but the spines shrivel with age so that it appears less rough when old. The pitted surface of the denuded peridium affords a mark of distinction from L. echinatum. L. pulcherrimum B. and C. is evidently the same species, but the name here adopted has priority of publication. Peck, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Growing on the ground and on rotten wood in woods. New York, Peck; Alabama, Atkinson; Ohio, Morgan; Wisconsin, Trelease.
Lycoperdon eximium.
With magnified spores. (After Morgan.)
L. exi´mium Morgan—eximius, excellent. Peridium obovoid, with a fibrous mycelium. Cortex white or brownish, composed of long slender spines, often curved and convergent at the apex, which at length fall away from above downward, leaving a pale smooth surface to the inner peridium. Subgleba small, occupying scarcely more than a fourth part of the peridium; mass of spores and capillitium greenish-yellow, then brownish-olivaceous; the threads mostly thinner than the spores, much branched. Spores oval, even, 5–6×4–4.5µ, usually furnished with a short pedicel.
Peridium ¾-1½ in. in diameter and about 1 in. in height. This species is readily distinguished by its large oval spores. Morgan.
Growing on the ground in sandy soil. South Carolina, Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson; Alabama U. and E.