Scleroderma meridionale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Scleroderma meridionale | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Boletales |
| Family: | Sclerodermataceae |
| Genus: | Scleroderma |
| Species: | S. meridionale |
| Binomial name | |
| Scleroderma meridionale Demoulin & Malençon (1971) | |
Scleroderma meridionale is a puffball-like fungus in the family Sclerodermataceae.[1] The fungus produces roughly circular to irregularly shaped fruit bodies up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, characterised by a thick, yellow to tan peridium that splits into lobes when mature to reveal a dark brownish-grey spore mass inside. It typically grows in sandy, dry soils throughout the Mediterranean basin and parts of North America, where it forms beneficial relationships with various woody plants including pines, oaks and shrubs of the family Cistaceae.
Description
The fungus has a roughly circular to irregularly shaped fruit body up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter with a thick, rooting base. The peridium is up to 2 mm thick and has a dry, roughened surface coloured tan to yellow. Mature fruit bodies tend to split into irregular lobes, revealing a dark brownish- to blackish-grey spore mass (gleba).[3] The dry peridium is often an intense sulphur yellow with a felty to finely furfuraceous (scaly) texture, and may show silver-grey patches where the mantle weathers.[4]
The spores are spherical with small spikes and measure 12–20 μm. Scleroderma meridionale grows in sandy areas, where it fruits singly or scattered in a partially buried state. Its edibility is unknown.[3]