Dusky Puffball

Dusky Puffball Lycoperdon nigrescens Pers. syn. L. foetidum Bonord. (illustrated 60% life size) Fruit body 1–4cm across, 1.5–3cm high, subglobose, pinched into a short, tapered base; outer layer of groups of fine, pointed, blackish-brown spines convergent at tips gradually wears off, leaving a net-like pattern on the light greyish-tan, smooth, papery inner wall; opening by a central pore. Gleba eventually sepia; sterile base up to half of the volume of the fruit body, well-developed, spongy. Spores 4–5¼ in diameter, globose, finely spiny; olive-brown. Habitat on heaths or in coniferous or mixed woods; summer to autumn. Common. Unknown edibility.