Submitted by Ian Harding on Mon, 05/04/2021 - 11:43

This group of last year's fungi was found in a wood outside Heather, and have a strange bottle- or vase-shape, being blubous at the base (where some appear to have been attached to/growing on twigs), narrowing to a cylindrical neck.  At the top the 'neck flares outwards slightly and there is an apical depression inside which is a dome containing an off-centre pore.  The papery walls of the structures resemble the peridium of old puffballs, but I can't find any form of earthball, puffball or earthstar with even a vague resemblance to this morphology in my Collins book of fungi by Buczacki, Shields and Ovenden.  I'd be most interested is anyone is able to help me to identify them, please, as they're not something I've seen before.  Many thanks,

Ian

Comments

Submitted by Melinda Bell on Mon, 05/04/2021 - 15:27

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How big are they?

Pestle puff balls look weird when older. I think this may be what they are.

Min Bell

Dear Melinda,

Thanks for getting back to me!  I stupidly put the sizes in the photo descriptions, which don't now seem to be visible on the site...silly me.  The largest was about 20cm tall, the others more like 8-10cm tall...would that work for pestle puffballs, please?  I suspected it might be just a species that 'weirded out' when it got older...shame there are no illustrations of such in the reference books.  I look forward to hearing if the size 'fits', and my thanks again,

Yours,

Ian

Submitted by Melinda Bell on Tue, 06/04/2021 - 15:52

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Size seems right. I have seen them like that myself around the site at Bagworth and the car park at Sence Valley.

You make a very good point. We should include photos of some characteristic old manky ones too if we want all available records.

I seem only ever to see giant puffballs like that.

I confess to looking at lots of sites on line. I like the one called First Nature.

Keep looking for fungi. I just love them all!

Thanks Melinda, good to know - and I'll check out First Nature too sometime. Let's hear it for the old and manky ones!  I'm a real novice with fungi, but will try to record what I can...

Yours,

Ian