Fungi › puffballs

Pear-shaped Puffball

Apioperdon pyriforme

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 Ontario.January 183, February 187, March 296, April 580, May 1,114, June 522, July 393, August 355, September 582, October 569, November 191, December 171.
United States30,619
Canada7,084
Ontario4,139
Ohio2,382
Pennsylvania2,380
New York2,273
Russia2,049
Michigan1,612
Virginia1,467
Maryland1,372

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

KingdomFungi Including Lichens · Fungi
PhylumBasidiomycete Fungi · Basidiomycota
ClassMushrooms, Bracket Fungi, Puffballs, and Allies · Agaricomycetes
OrderCommon Gilled Mushrooms and Allies · Agaricales
Familypuffballs · Lycoperdaceae
GenusApioperdon

Study it in a deck

Or build your own from the species near you.

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Pear-shaped Puffball with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.