Lycoperdon pyriforme Schaeff.

Common name: Wood Puffball.

Description: Lycoperdon pyriform is usually up to 5 cm in diameter, but there are reports of specimens up to 10 cm across. The fungus is pear-shaped (hence its specific name pyriforme) with the puffball tapering downward into a stem-like base. The ball surface is covered with tiny granules or particles and is generally a brown colour. As the fungus ages, these particles may slowly disappear. The spore opening is quite distinctive and forms a single hole at the summit. The interior (or gleba) is at first more or less white then greenish yellow and finally it changes to become a brown powdery spore mass.

The spores measure 3.55 µm and are more or less globose and brown. They are very finely and delicately verruculose; however, this surface ornamentation is only visible at very high magnification.

Substratum: The fungus occurs in clusters on rotting logs in forests, often in very large numbers. Old, papery fruiting bodies of last season's growth are sometimes found.

Distribution: Widespread and found in all eastern mainland States and Tasmania.

Notes: This is one of the two species of puffball in Australia that is known to occur on wood. The other, L. incarnatum, is easily distinguished as it is always distinctly globose and lacks an apparent stem.