| Podaxis pistillaris | |
|---|---|
| P. pistillaris | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Agaricaceae |
| Genus: | Podaxis |
| Species: | P. pistillaris |
| Binomial name | |
| Podaxis pistillaris (L.) Fr. (as "Podaxon") |
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Podaxis pistillaris is a very distinctive relative of the puffballs. It grows to 15 cm high and has a hard, woody stem. The large cap, which protects the blackish spore-bearing tissue, splits, and usually falls away at maturity, allowing the spores to be dispersed by wind. Large numbers may appear after soaking rains.[1] It thrives in deserts and semi-deserts of Australia and other countries. In the Hawaiian Islands, it is frequently encountered along roadsides and in disturbed areas on the dry sides of the islands, especially in the Kona area of Hawaii and the Kihei area of Maui.
Older synonyms for this species include Lycoperdon pistillare L. (1771) and Scleroderma pistillare (L.) Pers. (1801).
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The spores are usually 10–14 (–16) by (8–) 9–12 µm broadly oval to sub-globose, smooth yellow to deep reddish-brown with a double wall, truncate base, and apical pore. Older spore measurements have varied considerably. Species from Australian collections appear to be more subglobose than those seen from the United States, raising the possibility that the latter are not the same species.
It is an agaric, though it has lost hymenophoral organization and the ability to forcibly discharge its basidiospores and become "secotioid".[2] Although considered by many to be a "stalked puffball", Podaxis pistillaris is more closely allied with the shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) than with puffballs [3].