Monday, October 8, 2018

Mushroom identification: the pigskin poison puffball or earthball



This rotund little mushroom is Scleroderma citrinum, commonly known as the pigskin poison puffball (from here on referred to as PPP).

Pigskin poison puffballs live near the bases or exposed roots of trees, especially oak, maple and conifers. 

PPPs are a very common mycorrhizal species, usually found at the bases of older trees (though sometimes young trees can have them as well), and often among exposed roots. (Mycorrhizal means they have a symbiotic relationship with plants, in this case trees).

As a child, this was my favorite mushroom. In late September and early October I would run around the neighborhood oaks and give each PPP I found a tentatively gentle squeeze. If it felt ready--less firm and slightly squishy--I would stand up, back off, and run two or three steps to jump on the mushroom as hard as I could, so that it would truly explode in a cloud of spores.



I would like to add that I was often unapologetically trespassing in various backyards to find these treasures, but it was a different time then, and free-roaming children were more often considered a neighborhood staple, and the interconnected network of backyards were generally considered shared domain if you were under the age of 8 or so, and didn't do any harm. It was that or walk on the sidewalk along the street-facing front yards, and no one wanted their kids to do that for fear of abduction.

Anyway, that's how this fungus reproduces--the ball-like structure is full spores. When the spores ripen, the whole mass softens slightly. When it's fully mature, the tough outer rind will split, creating an irregular opening, revealing the spores to be caught on the wind and distributed.

Many things can disrupt the reproductive process. Aside from jumping children, this mushroom can be attacked by insects and/or snails and slugs, or even parasitized by other mushrooms.

In this photo on the right, something appears to have attacked these PPPs, creating a circular hole, the insides proved to be nearly hollow, preventing spore release.



Identification & confusion with edible species

PPPs are occasionally confused with edible puffballs, mostly in the genus Lycoperdon. To help distinguish them from edible puffballs, PPPs are sometimes called "earth balls," though a distinction merely of words isn't very helpful when you actually encounter either species in the field.

Still, in my opinion, "pigskin poison puffball" is one of the best common names for a mushroom, in that it immediately clues you in to both how to identify the fungus, and also lets you know why you shouldn't eat it.

When viewed from above, the pigskin poison puffball can somewhat resemble a nut, or even a piece of plastic or leather.

Like a pigskin--a slang term for an American football, for my global readers--the PPP will be round or ovoid, and beige to light tan to brown in color. Also like a football, this mushroom will have a leathery feel, and the surface will be textured:  sometimes cracked, other times spotted or pebbled.

With a slight wiggle or tug, you should be able to uproot the mushroom, revealing a small network of "roots" --really mycelium--beneath the ground.
(See the pic at the top of this page).

When you pull them up like this, they kind of resemble small brains, with the brainstem dangling down.


There's some misinformation out there about identification of these mushrooms. Many sites and even some books say that the PPPs will ALWAYS have a purple, black, brown or grey center, but that's simply not true.

While "earth balls" turn dark much earlier than "puffballs",  young specimens can have a white center, creating confusion between the two species.

The football-like firmness of this mushroom is actually the best way to distinguish it from puffballs. Like the name implies, a PPP resists compression -- very much like a fully inflated football will. You can press into an unpuffed PPP very slightly, but you really can't "smoosh" it -- it will resist until it breaks.

Please wait for this Instagram video I shared--showcasing that exact compression resistance.




Once the PPP pops--on its own to release its spores, (like in the picture below) the mushroom will compress, but pretty much everyone can tell you wouldn't want to eat that.




Though non-lethal, the toxicity of PPPs is apparently pretty severe for some, for others it's only a mild sickener. Michael Kuo, mycologist, author and owner of the site mushroomexpert, reports that he was sickened simply by eating blueberries that had gotten contaminated by the puffed spores of this fungus.

8 comments:

  1. Absolutely fantastic job you have done here.This is so nice.Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Really nice and informative blog, keep it up buddy…

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  3. I mistaken ate this mushroom and feel so sick now

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. I have a similar mushroom, (actually it was 2 about an inch apart, one about twice as big as the other)but it was late june.I kept forgetting about it so I didnt get pictures till the very end stage. However its growing in my raised vegetable garden right beside my bush beans which are in flower. Is it possibly this poisonous fungus or more likely something else? If it is possibly poisonous are the vegetables growing around it going to be contaminated?

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    1. Hey this looks like it posted twice. I answered on the other one

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  6. I have a similar mushroom, (actually it was 2 about an inch apart, one about twice as big as the other)but it was late june.I kept forgetting about it so I didnt get pictures till the very end stage. However its growing in my raised vegetable garden right beside my bush beans which are in flower. Is it possibly this poisonous fungus or more likely something else? If it is possibly poisonous are the vegetables growing around it going to be contaminated?

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    Replies
    1. So, you are absolutely right, it could be a non-poisonous mushroom called a gem-studded puffball, which looks similar. Unless you follow the steps here, you wont know for sure.

      That said, was your veggies completely (submerge in water and swish around a bit), and you will be fine.

      If a poisonous mushroom sprays it's spores on your veggies they will become contaminated, but it's a surface issue only. Thoroughly cleaning them makes them safe.

      Funny fact, the famed mushroom hunter Michael Quo was giving a mushroom lecture and he sprayed some of the spores of this mushroom in the air. He then found a patch of nearby blueberries and ate them without washing. He got quite sick!

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