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Calvatia sculpta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calvatia sculpta
Calvatia sculpta 49007.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Agaricaceae
Genus: Calvatia
Species: C. sculpta
Binomial name
Calvatia sculpta
(Harkn.) Lloyd (1904)
Synonyms[1]

Lycoperdon sculptum Harkn. (1885)

Calvatia sculpta
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Mycological characteristics
glebal hymenium
no distinct cap
spore print is brown
ecology is mycorrhizal

edibility: edible
or choice

Calvatia sculpta, commonly known as the sculpted puffball, the sculptured puffball,
the pyramid puffball, and the Sierran puffball, is a species of puffball fungus in
the family Agaricaceae. Attaining dimensions of up to 8 to 15 cm (3.1 to 5.9 in)
tall by 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) wide, the pear- or egg-shaped puffball is
readily recognizable because of the large pyramidal or polygonal warts covering its
surface. It is edible when young, before the spores inside the fruit body
disintegrate into a brownish powder. The spores are roughly spherical, and have
wart-like projections on their surfaces.

Originally described from the Sierra Nevada, C. sculpta is found in mountainous


areas in western North America, and was found in a Brazilian dune in 2008. It may
be easily confused with Calbovista subsculpta, a similar puffball thatin addition
to differences observable only with microscopyis larger, and has slightly raised
warts with a felt-like texture. Other similar species include Calvatia arctica and
immature specimens of Amanita magniverrucata.

Contents

1 Taxonomy and naming


2 Description
2.1 Edibility
2.2 Similar species
3 Habitat and distribution
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Taxonomy and naming

The species was first described in 1885 by American mycologist Harvey Willson
Harkness, under the name Lycoperdon sculptum. Harkness, who called it "a curious
and strikingly beautiful species", found fruit bodies growing at elevations between
1,800 and 2,400 meters (5,900 and 7,900 ft) in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Although he noted that "in appearance it differs so much from any species known to
us, as to be almost deemed worthy of generic rank", he thought that placement in
the puffball genus Lycoperdon was the most appropriate classification, despite its
unusual cortex.[2] Harkness's type collections were destroyed in the fires
following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.[3] In 1904, Curtis Gates Lloyd
considered the species better placed in Calvatia, because of the resemblance of its
deeply colored capillitial threads (coarse thick-walled cells found in the gleba)
to those of Calvatia caelata;[nb 1] he called the species Calvatia sculptum.[7] The
mushroom is known by several common names, including the "sculpted puffball", the
"sculptured puffball", the "pyramid puffball",[8] and the "Sierran puffball".[9]

In 1992, German mycologist Hanns Kreisel, in his survey of the genus Calvatia,
defined the section Sculpta to contain C. sculpta and C. subcretacea.[10] Two years
later he merged the section Cretacea into Sculpta[11] when it was shown that C.
subcretacea was synonymous with the arctic-alpine species C. arctica.[12]
Description
The gleba of young fruit bodies are firm and yellowish-white.

The white pear- or egg-shaped fruit body of C. sculpta may be 8 to 15 cm (3.1 to


5.9 in) tall by 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) wide. The outer layer of tissue, known
as the exoperidium, is covered on the outer surface with distinctive long, pointed,
pyramid-shaped warts, either erect or bent over and sometimes connected at the tip
with other warts.[13] The warts bear parallel horizontal lines towards the base.
Mycologist David Arora opined that C. sculpta resembled "a cross between a geodesic
dome and a giant glob of meringue."[9] In age, the peridium sloughs off and exposes
a brownish spore mass. The interior of the puffball, the gleba, is firm and
yellowish-white when young, but gradually becomes powdery and deep olive-brown as
it matures.[13]

The spores are roughly spherical, thick-walled, 36 m in diameter (although some


specimens collected in the USA range from 7.2 to 9.5 m),[14] and are covered with
minute spines or warts.[15] The use of scanning electron microscopy has revealed
that these ornamentations on the spores are typically 0.95 m long. Spore
ultrastructure is distinctive among Calvatia species, and has been used to help
verify taxonomic groupings and confirm the status of species within the genus.[16]
The capillitia (coarse, thick-walled hyphae in the gleba) are septate, with
branches that are narrowed towards the tips; they are 38 m in diameter.[15] When
grown in pure culture in the laboratory, C. sculpta is, under certain conditions,
able to grow structures called mycelial strands. These are linear aggregates of
hyphae whereby older "leading" hyphae become enclosed by coiled layers of newer
"tendril" hyphae. Mycelial strands provide a conduit for transporting water and
nutrients across non-nutrient material, allowing the fungus to reach new sources of
food.[17] They are also implicated in the formation of fruit bodies and sclerotia.
The mycelia of C. sculpta can be induced to form mycelial strands when there is a
permeable physical barrier between it and the agar substrate.[18] The wide hyphae
in the center of the mycelial strands contain protein-dense structures on their
cell walls that are shaped like a torus. Their function is unknown.[19]
Edibility

Calvatia sculpta is edible, and said to be "choice" by some authors.[9][13] The


taste is described as "mild" and the flesh has no distinguishable odor.[13] Arora
recommends eating the puffball only when it is firm and white inside, as older
specimens may have a distasteful iodine-like flavor.[20] The puffball may be
preserved by freezing fresh or partially cooked slices, but their flavor and
texture will deteriorate unless cooked immediately after thawing. Recommended
cooking techniques for puffball slices include sauting and coating in batter
before frying.[8] C. sculpta was used as a traditional food of the Plains and
Sierra Miwok Indians of North America, who called the fungus potokele or patapsi.
[21] Puffballs were prepared by drying them in the sun, grinding them with a
mortar, and boiling them before eating with acorn soup.[22][23]
Similar species
Lookalike species include Calbovista subsculpta (left) and Amanita magniverrucata
(right).

The giant western puffball, Calvatia booniana, is much larger than C. sculptaup to
60 cm (24 in) in diameter and 30 cm (12 in) talland has a smoother surface.[24]
Mature specimens of Calvatia arctica (synonymous with Calvatia subcretacea,
Gastropila subcretacea, and Handkea subcretacea)[1][12] can resemble immature
specimens of C. sculpta. It is distinguished from C. sculpta by its tough, thicker
peridial wall,[15] and its scales are tipped with gray-brown.[25] Calbovista
subsculpta is similar in appearance, but has more flattened and less prominent
pyramidal warts. Microscopically, its capillitia are thin-walled and frequently and
irregularly branched, in contrast to the thick-walled infrequently branched
capillitia of C. sculpta.[13] The "possibly toxic" Amanita magniverrucata, in its
embryonic stage, has a superficial resemblance as it also has pyramidal cap warts.
However, it grows at different elevations and different seasons than C. sculpta.
Further, slicing the fruit body of A. magniverrucata in half will reveal internal
structures of cap, gills and stem not present in puffballs.[26]
Habitat and distribution

The sculptured puffball grows solitarily or in small groups in forest duff. It is


typically associated with coniferous forests at high elevations, greater than about
750 m (2,500 ft),[27] on western mountains like the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade
Range.[15][20] The United States distribution includes the states of California,
Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.[28] An uncommon species,[9] it fruits throughout
spring, summer, and fall during wet weather.[13]

Most commonly known from western North America,[13] the species was reported
growing on sandy soil in Natal Dunes State Park in the northeastern Brazilian state
of Rio Grande do Norte in 2008. The fruit bodies were associated with the roots of
the native tree species Eugenia brasiliensis. Several hypotheses have been proposed
to account for this disjunct distribution: the species may have been present before
the Americas separated; it may have been introduced to Brazil by human activity,
and subsequently adapted to the environment there; or the North and South American
populations may represent a cryptic species complexappearing morphologically
similar but genetically distinct. The Brazilian population has not been compared
genetically with North American specimens.[14]
Notes

Depending on the authority consulted, Calvatia caelata is currently known as


either Lycoperdon utriforme,[4] Calvatia utriformis,[5] or Handkea utriformis.[6]

References

"Gastropila subcretacea (Zeller) P. Ponce de Len 1976". MycoBank. International


Mycological Association. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
Harkness HW. (1885). "Fungi of the Pacific Coast". Bulletin of the California
Academy of Sciences. 1 (3): 15977.
Setchell WA. (1908). "Notes on Lycoperdon sculptum Harkness". Bulletin of the
Torrey Botanical Club. 35: 2916. doi:10.2307/2479221.
"Calvatia caelata (Bull.) Morgan". Index Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved
2011-06-28.
"Calvatia caelata (Bull.) Morgan 1890". MycoBank. International Mycological
Association. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
Kreisel H. (1989). "Studies in the Calvatia complex (Basidiomycetes)". Nova
Hedwigia. 48 (34): 28196.
Lloyd CG. (1904). Mycological Writings of C.G. Lloyd. 1. Cincinnati, Ohio. p. 203.
Bessette A, Fischer DH (1992). Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-to-
Kitchen Guide. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. pp. 12831. ISBN 978-0-
292-72080-0.
Arora D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi.
Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p. 684. ISBN 978-0-89815-169-5.
Kreisel H. (1992). "An emendation and preliminary survey of the genus Calvatia
(Gasteromycetidae)". Persoonia. 14 (4): 4319.
Kreisel H. (1994). "Studies in the Calvatia complex (Basidiomycetes) 2". Feddes
Repertorium. 105 (56): 36976. doi:10.1002/fedr.19941050516.
Lange M. (1994). "Calvatia subcretacea, a synonym of C. arctica". Mycologia
Helvetica. 6 (2): 8790.
Miller HR, Miller OK (2006). North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and
Inedible Fungi. Guilford, Connecticut: Falcon Guide. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-
1.
Baseia IG, Calonge FD (2008). "Calvatia sculpta, a striking puffball occurring on
Brazilian sand dunes". Mycotaxon. 106: 26972.
McKnight VB, McKnight KH (1987). A Field Guide to Mushrooms, North America. Boston,
Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin. p. 353. ISBN 978-0-395-91090-0.
Portman R, Moseman R, Levetin E (1997). "Ultrastructure of basidiospores in North
American members of the genus Calvatia". Mycotaxon. 62: 43543.
Hudson HJ. (1992). Fungal Biology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p.
29. ISBN 978-0-521-42773-9.
Bellotti RA, Couse NL (1980). "Induction of mycelial strands in Calvatia sculpta".
Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 74 (1): 1925. doi:10.1016/s0007-
1536(80)80003-9.
Rose JM, Couse NL (1982). "Torus-shaped structures in hyphae of Calvatia sculpta".
Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 79 (1): 1724. doi:10.1016/s0007-
1536(82)80211-8.
Arora D. (1991). All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western
Mushrooms. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-89815-388-0.
Anderson MK, Lake FK (2013). "California indian ethnomycology and associated forest
management" (PDF). Journal of Ethnobiology. 33 (1): 3385 (see p. 41).
doi:10.2993/0278-0771-33.1.33. open access publication free to read
Barrett SA, Gifford EW (1933). "Miwok material culture: Indian life of the Yosemite
region". Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee. 2 (4): 117376.
Burk WR. (1983). "Puffball usages among North American Indians" (PDF). Journal of
Ethnobiology. 3 (1): 5562.
Kuo M. (October 2008). "Calvatia booniana". MushroomExpert.Com. Retrieved 2011-06-
28.
Sundberg W, Bessette A (1987). Mushrooms: A Quick Reference Guide to Mushrooms of
North America. Macmillan Field Guides. New York, New York: Collier Books. p. 20.
ISBN 978-0-02-063690-8.
Wood M, Stevens F. "Calvatia sculpta". California Fungi. MykoWeb. Retrieved 2011-
06-28.
Lukas D, Storer TI, Usinger RL (2004). Sierra Nevada Natural History. Berkeley,
California: University of California Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-520-24096-4.

Zeller SM, Smith AH (1964). "The genus Calvatia in North America". Lloydia. 27
(3): 14880.

External links

Calvatia sculpta in Index Fungorum


Taxon identifiers

EoL: 6700156 GBIF: 2536065 MycoBank: 307658 Index Fungorum: 307658

Categories:

AgaricaceaeEdible fungiFungi of North AmericaFungi of South


AmericaPuffballsFungi described in 1885

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