Fungi › puffballs
Purple-spored Puffball
Calvatia cyathiformis
28 photos
Study shows up to four per card, from different observers, so you learn the species rather than one picture. Heart the good ones and swap any you do not like.
Photos you add are credited to you, and you keep the copyright.
Easily confused with
giant puffballCalvatia gigantea
Brain puffballCalvatia craniiformis
Mosaic puffballLycoperdon utriforme
common earthballScleroderma citrinum
Western Giant PuffballCalvatia booniana
Calvatia lilacinaCalvatia lilacina
Calvatia fragilis
common puffballLycoperdon perlatum
Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.
Where it is recorded
| United States | 3,039 |
|---|---|
| Canada | 287 |
| Texas | 220 |
| Ontario | 219 |
| Pennsylvania | 210 |
| North Carolina | 207 |
| Virginia | 199 |
| Argentina | 199 |
| New York | 194 |
| Georgia | 169 |
Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.
Traits
Ecological
- DecomposerBreaks down dead organic matter, recycling nutrientsFrom its classification
Group and habits
- Human edibleListed as edible by a harvested source. This is a research trait, not foraging advice.FungiTastic metadata
- Puffball fungus formDescends from a fungal lineage whose members are typically puffballs.Inferred from its group
Edibility, toxicity and medicinal traits are records from datasets, not advice. Never eat, handle or use a wild species on the strength of an app.
Classification
| Kingdom | Fungi Including Lichens · Fungi |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Basidiomycete Fungi · Basidiomycota |
| Class | Mushrooms, Bracket Fungi, Puffballs, and Allies · Agaricomycetes |
| Order | Common Gilled Mushrooms and Allies · Agaricales |
| Family | puffballs · Lycoperdaceae |
| Genus | Calvatia |
Study it in a deck
Or build your own from the species near you.
Sources
- Names, taxonomy and observation counts: www.inaturalist.org
- Photos and recordings: the creator and source are on each one.
- Traits: FungiTastic metadata (BSD-3-Clause repository; dataset terms require verification)
- How much to rely on each source
Remember the name next time.
Practise Purple-spored Puffball with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.