Scleroderma and Pisolithus - click to expand
Although the spore mass is white when immature, you'll hardly
ever find one that young. Almost immediately they will start turning
purplish-black inside, and at that point, at least, they are poisonous.
Species mentioned:
Scleroderma albidum, areolatum, bovista, cepa, citrinum, floridanum,
hypogaeum, laeve, meridionale, polyrhizum, verrucosum.
Pisolithus PNW01
- the "dead man's foot", an earthball easily separated from
Scleroderma, its sister genus, by its larger size (up to 20cm across and
30cm high) an irregular sterile base, and most notably, hundreds of seed like
structures inside a vinaceous-brownish-black sticky substance. It was
long thought that our species was P. tinctorius or P. arhizus, but
DNA shows that ours is distinct from both of them and probably needs a new name.

Pisolithus PNW01 © Jonathan Frank
Scleroderma cepa PNW01
- has a smoothish outer surface that might crack like mud in age (as
shown in the photo) and
then start to resemble the scaly species. The rind is fairly thick,
usually >1mm. The spore size is inconsistently
reported, but as it turns out our species has a sequence that does not match EU
type area sequences of S. cepa, we'll probably have to describe our
species with a new name and figure out exactly how the spores measure.
Scleroderma cf laeve ENA? - similar smoothish exterior and thick rind, but
the round spiny spores measure 9-14u across. We don't have a reliable sequence of this species
that seems to be from ENA, nor do we have local sequences to compare. We need
more data.
Scleroderma 'albidum PNW03' - similar smoothish exterior
and thick rind,
but the round spiny spores measure 11-16u across. Our sequences don't match EU
type area sequences, so I don't think we have the real species here, but ours
probably needs a new name.
Scleroderma bovista EU - similar smoothish
exterior and thick rind, but the round spiny spores have a reticulum joining the spines
together and measure 11-17u across. We have a BC sequence that matches hundreds
of EU type area sequences.
Scleroderma hypogaeum OR - similar smoothish exterior and thick rind, and like S.
bovista, the round spiny spores also have a reticulum joining the
spines together but measure 14-25u across. No DNA yet, we need local
collections.

unsequenced Scleroderma cepa © A and O Ceska
Scleroderma PNW02 - the exterior is cracked like mud (areolate)
from early on and the rind is somewhat thick (about 1mm thick). It's possible this species has been going by the names
Scleroderma areolatum EU, but PNW02 is not nearly as close to S. areolatum as PNW04,
described below.
Scleroderma areolatum EU
- one WA sequence matches hundreds of EU sequences.
Scleroderma 'areolatum PNW04'-
similar to S. areolatum and PNW02 and also cracking like mud from
early on with a fairly thick rind ~1mm thick, but our one WA sequence
is 9 bp different than the hundreds of EU type area sequences.
Scleroderma cf verrucosum EU - the exterior is covered in small
scales that are blunt like the cracked patches of S. areolatum,
but supposedly stick up somewhat. The rind is one of the thinnest in
the genus, <1mm thick. We have many sequences of this from the
EU, but no matching DNA has been found yet in the PNW. We need collections.
Scleroderma cf citrinum EU
- the largest species (up to 10cm across) with one of the thickest
rinds at >2mm thick, (except for the species that open up into a star
shape) and the pointest scales that resemble rosettes.
We have hundreds of EU type area sequences, but no local DNA. This should be
low hanging fruit as it is quite common.

Scleroderma PNW02 © NAMA and the Field Museum of Natural History (2
images)

Scleroderma areolatum © Michelle Keller-Pearson (2 images),
S. 'areolatum PNW04' © Shannon Adams (2 images)

unsequenced Scleroderma verrucosum © Steve Trudell,
unsequenced S. citrinum © Michael Beug
Scleroderma cf floridanum FL - with small overlapping scales
and a very thick rind (up to 5mm thick) this one opens
up more completely into a star shape at maturity than most other
species, but there's no puffball inside like in
Geastrum and Astraeus, just the
purple gooey/powdery mass. When young and unopened it's not easily
differentiated from some of the above species. No DNA from anywhere yet.
Scleroderma cf polyrhizum EU - a smoothish exterior species
with a similarly very thick rind that also opens up distinctly into a
star shape. When young and unopened it's not easily differentiated
from some of the above species. We have one EU sequence that may or may not
be this, so we need both reliable type area sequences and local collections
to compare, because we have none yet.
Scleroderma cf meridionale EU - with quite the rhizomorphic stem
mass under the earthball and fairly thick peridium ~2mm thick,
this species is distinctive. We have a few EU sequences that probably
represent this, but no local DNA to compare yet.
unsequenced Scleroderma polyrhizum © Michael Beug, unsequenced
Scleroderma meridionale © Kit Scates Barnhart