Calvatia cyathiformis at ANBG

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Identification history

Calvatia cyathiformis

21 Feb 2019

Heino1

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2 comments

Heino1 wrote:

22 Feb 2019

This specimen was waterlogged and this gave the inside of the fruit body a glistening, blackish-purple colouration, which shows through the cracks in the skin. In the lower left of Photo 2 I show part of the fruit body after it had been dried. You now see a purplish-brown internal colour. At the upper right you see some spores. At the lower right I show the two illustrations that accompanied the first published report of this species (as Lycoperdon cyathiforme) by Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1811. He showed only sterile bases, which may remain long after the spores have all gone. He said that the figure on the left shows such a specimen whole and the other shows one cut vertically. I assume that the slight blotchiness represents the holey, sponge-like interior of that sterile base. I have copied the drawings from the historical journals provided online by the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.

Pam wrote:

22 Feb 2019

Heino, thank for all the information you've been putting up re the Calvatias. In particular C. cyathiformis.

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