Mycenastrum
| Mycenastrum | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Agaricaceae |
| Genus: |
Mycenastrum Desv. (1842) |
| Type species | |
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Mycenastrum corium (Guers.) Desv. (1842) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Genus Species
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Genus
Species
Mycenastrum is a fungal genus in the family Agaricaceae. The genus is monotypic, containing one widely distributed species, Mycenastrum corium, known by various common names: the giant pasture puffball, leathery puffball, or tough puffball. The roughly spherical to turnip-shaped puffball-like fruit bodies grow to a diameter of 6–24 cm (2–9 in). Initially covered by a thick, felted, whitish layer, the puffballs develop a characteristic checkered skin (peridium) in age. When the internal spore mass, the gleba, is firm and white, the puffball is edible, although some individuals may suffer mild gastrointestinal symptoms after eating it. As the spores mature, the gleba turns first yellowish then purplish brown. Spores are released when the peridium eventually splits open into irregularly shaped sections. Microscopically, the gleba consists of spherical, dark brown spores with rounded bumps on their surfaces, and a capillitium—intricately branched fibers that form long thorn-like spines. The puffball grows on or in the ground in prairie or desert habitats. Although widely distributed, it is not commonly encountered. Mycenastrum corium is a threatened species in Europe.
The species was originally described in 1805 as Lycoperdon corium in the second volume of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Flore Française. They attributed authorship to French botanist Louis Ben Guersent, who discovered it in an alfalfa field between the town of La Sotte and Rouen in northern France.Synonyms include Scleroderma corium published by Arthur Harmount Graves in 1830, and Steerbekia corium published by Elias Magnus Fries in 1849. The species was given its current name by Nicaise Auguste Desvaux in 1842, who circumscribed the genus Mycenastrum to contain it. Generic synonyms are Vassiliĭ Matveievitch Czernajew's 1845 Endonevrum and Stephan Schulzer von Müggenburg's 1876 Pachyderma.
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