Calvatia cyathiformis
Species of fungus
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Description
The fruiting body is 5–20 cm (2–8 in) high and/or broad. When young it is relatively smooth and spherical or slightly flattened and can be white, purplish or brownish. It has a chocolate-brown or purple-colored gleba with a smooth exoperidium. As it matures, it often becomes pear- or top-shaped and the exterior skin takes on a dark or silvery colour. As it ages the exterior dries and cracks and the fleshy spore-bearing interior breaks away to be distributed by wind and rain. After the spores completely disperse, a sterile base in the form of a soft leathery cup remains on the ground.
The spores are 3.5–7.5 μm in diameter, "round, spiny or warty to nearly smooth. Capillitial threads 3–7.5 μm wide; thick-walled; minutely pitted." The spore mass turns from white to yellow to dull purple or purple-brown at maturity.
Similar species
Outside of the genus, similar species include Lycoperdon utriforme.
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Habitat and distribution
Calvatia cyathiformis is commonly found in grazing paddocks and grassed areas around the wet areas of Australia in the southwest of Western Australia, and from Adelaide in South Australia to Cooktown, on Cape York Peninsula, as well as in Darwin, Northern Territory.
Uses
It is considered a choice edible when it is young and the interior is white. It is no longer edible when it's interior flesh turns to a tan colour. The puffball has not been noted to have a distinctive odor or taste.