Podaxis pistillaris
| Family: | Podaxaceae# |
| Full name: | Podaxis pistillaris (Pers.) Fr. |
| Location: | Sossusvlei area (2415CB) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Slangkop, Boesmanlandse mushroom, Duiwelsbrood. |
| English common name(s): | False shaggy mane, Desert shaggy mane, False ink cap |
| Synonym(s): | Lycoperdon pistillare L. (1771) Scleroderma pistillare (L.) Pers. (1801). |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Pileus:Cap narrowly ellipsoid to obovate, 4.0-11.0 (15) cm tall, 2.0-4.0 cm broad, not expanding, the margin fused to stipe except occasionally breaking free in senescence; surface two-layered, the outer layer cream-white, sparsely covered with flattened tan-colored scales, partially sloughing off in age, revealing a thin, brittle, glabrous cream to buff-colored inner layer, the latter eventually fissured or cracked, releasing spores; odor and taste untried. Gleba: Gills replaced by a puffball-like gleba, at first pallid to yellowish, sometimes with vinaceous tints, at maturity dark-brown, dark reddish-brown to blackish, the spore mass embedded in a capillitium. Stipe 4.0-9.0 (12) cm long, 0.5-1.0 thick, straight, more or less equal except for a soil-encrusting, abruptly bulbous base; surface covered by a whitish to cream-colored membrane, fragmenting with age, exposing a pallid, longitudinally striate under-surface; context consisting of a woody cortex and cottony-fibrous pith, lacking the "cottony cord" seen in Coprinus comatus; partial veil absent. Spores 10-15.0 (16.0) x 9.5-13.5 micron, globose to ovoid, smooth, with a thick double-wall, prominent germ pore, inconspicuous hilar appendage, and lacking a pedicel; spores ochre-colored when mounted in KOH, blackish in deposit. Habitat:Scattered to grouped along dry washes and roadsides of the desert regions of California; fruiting spring, summer, and fall after periods of moisture; dried fruiting bodies persisting for months; occasional to locally common. Edibility:Inedible; fibrous-woody. (from www.mykoweb.com) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 27 May 2006 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/500 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
