Sandy Siltball Battarraea phalloides (Dicks.) Pers. (illustrated 50% life size) Fruit body 10–25cm high, a spore-sac on a rigid, ochre-brown stem covered in shaggy fibres, seated in a loose, whitish, membranous cup. Initially the fruit body is held within the volva below ground; as the stem elongates rapidly, the spore sac is pushed through the soil surface and splits all round. Gleba rusty brown, powdery. Spores 5.0–5.5(6.5)¼, subglobose to ovate; brown. Habitat on sandy soil; summer. Very rare, endangered on Red Data List, a conserved species on the Biodiversity Action Plan. Not edible.
