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Skull-shaped Puffball

Fungi: Basidiomycota: Agaricomycetes: Agaricales: Agaricaceae: Calvatia craniiformis (Schw.) Fr.

Calvatia craniiformis – Skull-shaped Puffball

Synonym: Bovista craniiformis.

Common names: Skull-shaped Puffball, Brain puffball.

Extract from Wikipedia article: Calvatia craniiformis, commonly known as the brain puffball or the skull-shaped puffball, is a species of puffball fungus in the family Agaricaceae. It is found in Asia, Australia, and North America, where it grows on the ground in open woods. Its name, derived from the same Latin root as cranium, alludes to its resemblance to an animal's brain. The skull-shaped fruit body is 8–20 cm (3–8 in) broad by 6–20 cm (2–8 in) tall and white to tan. Initially smooth, the skin (peridium) develops wrinkles and folds as it matures, cracking and flaking with age. The peridium eventually sloughs away, exposing a powdery yellow-brown to greenish-yellow spore mass (the gleba). The puffball is edible when the gleba is still white and firm, before it matures to become yellow-brown and powdery. Mature specimens have been used in the traditional or folk medicines of China, Japan, and the Ojibwe as a hemostatic or wound dressing agent. Several bioactive compounds have been isolated and identified from the brain puffball.

Japanese: ノウタケ.

Photos of this mushroom from East and Central Texas

Brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2013-10-07.htm">October 7, 2013</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, October 7, 2013
Location on mapsPost Oak Trail, College Station, TX 77845, USA
Brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) in Lake Bryan Park. Bryan, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2013-10-08.htm">October 8, 2013</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) in Lake Bryan Park. Bryan, Texas, October 8, 2013
Location on maps8181 Mumford Road, Bryan, Texas 77807, United States
Brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) near Harvey Road. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2017-11-19.htm">November 19, 2017</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) near Harvey Road. College Station, Texas, November 19, 2017
Location on maps210, Harvey Road, College Station, Brazos County, Texas, 77840, United States
Brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) on Kiwanis Nature Trail. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2017-12-25.htm">December 25, 2017</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) on Kiwanis Nature Trail. College Station, Texas, December 25, 2017
Location on mapsKiwanis Nature Trail, College Station, Brazos County, Texas, 77843, United States
Brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) on Post Oak Trail in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2018-10-05.htm">October 5, 2018</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) on Post Oak Trail in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, October 5, 2018
Location on maps4833 Coopers Hawk Drive, College Station, TX 77845, USA
Group of brain puffball mushroom (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) on Post Oak Trail in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2018-10-05.htm">October 5, 2018</A>
LinkGroup of brain puffball mushroom (Calvatia craniiformis) on Post Oak Trail in Lick Creek Park. College Station, Texas, October 5, 2018
Location on maps4833 Coopers Hawk Drive, College Station, TX 77845, USA
Mature puffball mushrooms <B>Calvatia craniiformis</B> in Lake Bryan Park. Bryan, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2018-10-10.htm">October 10, 2018</A>
LinkMature puffball mushrooms Calvatia craniiformis in Lake Bryan Park. Bryan, Texas, October 10, 2018
Location on maps8181 Mumford Road, Bryan, Texas 77807, United States
Brain puffball mushrooms (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) in Wolf Pen Creek Park. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2018-10-23.htm">October 23, 2018</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushrooms (Calvatia craniiformis) in Wolf Pen Creek Park. College Station, Texas, October 23, 2018
Location on maps520 Harvey Rd, College Station, TX 77840, USA
Brain puffball mushrooms (<B>Calvatia craniiformis</B>) on a lawn in Wolf Pen Creek Park. College Station, Texas, <A HREF="../date-en/2018-10-23.htm">October 23, 2018</A>
LinkBrain puffball mushrooms (Calvatia craniiformis) on a lawn in Wolf Pen Creek Park. College Station, Texas, October 23, 2018
Location on maps520 Harvey Rd, College Station, TX 77840, USA

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