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Fungi › Sclerodermataceae

Potato Earthball

Scleroderma bovista

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Wildlife study photograph from iNaturalist.
(c) melissa29, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

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.

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Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in Alaska.January 125, February 92, March 144, April 227, May 328, June 357, July 382, August 329, September 241, October 180, November 98, December 77.
United States2,945
Alaska2,581
New Zealand147
Canada106
Ontario87
Canterbury Region65
Michigan61
Wisconsin24
North Carolina23
Illinois22

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Group and habits

  • Human edibleListed as edible by a harvested source. This is a research trait, not foraging advice.FungiTastic metadata
  • Earthball fungus formDescends from a fungal lineage whose members are typically earthballs.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

KingdomFungi Including Lichens · Fungi
PhylumBasidiomycete Fungi · Basidiomycota
ClassMushrooms, Bracket Fungi, Puffballs, and Allies · Agaricomycetes
Orderboletes and allies · Boletales
FamilySclerodermataceae
Genusearthballs · Scleroderma

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Potato Earthball with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.

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