The Most Beautiful Puffball. Edible.
Specimen from A. P. Morgan.
Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Figure 463.—Lycoperdon pulcherrimum.
Figure 464.—Lycoperdon pulcherrimum.
Pulcherrimum, most beautiful. The peridium is obovoid, with a short base, the mycelium forming a cord like a root. The cortex is covered with long white spines, converging at the apex, as will be seen in Figure 463. The spines soon fall from the upper part of the peridium, leaving the inner peridium with a smooth purplish-brown surface, often slightly scarred by the base of the spine. The subgleba occupies at least a third of the peridium. The spores and the capillitium are at first olivaceous, then brownish-purple, the spores rough and minutely warted. The plant is one to two inches in diameter. It is found in low, rich ground, in fields and wood margins. Only young and fresh plants are good.