Calvatia sp.
a puffball at Paddys River, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Calvatia sp. | Heino | 22 Feb 2016 | |
| Pisolithus sp. | KenT | 14 Feb 2016 |
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User's notes
It has erupted at the side of the road
4 comments
15 Feb 2016
The shape, markedly wrinkled but unbroken skin and colouration makes me think more of a Calvatia. If I'm right the whole thing would have been fairly soft to the touch, with a finger able to depress it at any point. Not so with Pisolithus. Any comment on that point?
15 Feb 2016
It seemed more solid to touch than soft (after I took the images). I had considered Calvatia but I could not remember if they disrupted the ground around them as much as this when the fruit body formed. Whereas I had seen what I assumed were Pisolithus breaking through along Corin road on the way out in the morning. I assumed Calvatia expand at the ground surface and Pisolithus through the ground surface, but possibly wrong on that one. There was no tidying up of the area before these images were recorded, it wasn't needed
19 Feb 2016
I haven't paid any attention to the amount of disturbance around the base of a Calvatia compared to that around a Pisolithus (which I have seen poking out of the ground with virtually no visible disturbance). Often when I see a Calvatia it's amongst grasses or in leaf/twig litter, so it wouldn't be easy to see the level of disturbance without creating more. However, that wrinkly surface seems very un-Pisolithus-like.
20 Feb 2016
I think I'm now leaning towards a Calvatia. When I prodded this I only touched the side and its possible I got the diaphragm or sterile base area. I have now posted http://canberranaturemap.org/Community/Sightings/Details/2459153 which was mostly soft all over but there were some firm areas and I see some similarity between these two sightings.
Location information
- Coordinates 148.931750-35.510639
- Maps Gibraltar Pines
- Places Paddys River, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 11 Feb 2016 08:27 AM Recorded on
- KenT Recorded by
Collections
- KenT Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Calvatia sp. Fruitbody walls break away to expose the spores Puffballs & the like Fungi
Species information
- Calvatia sp. Scientific name
- a puffball Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1185m Recorded at altitude