It is 4 to 10
inches across, a white or pinkish-brown color, afterward becoming a
darker brown and covered with small patches. When the spores mature the
upper part of the covering (peridium) becomes torn and only the lower
part remains. It looks like a dark-colored cup with a ragged margin, and
may be seen by the excursionist in the spring on the roadside. It has
survived the winter frosts and storms. It is split and shabby looking.
In August it is a whitish puff-ball, in the spring only a torn, brown
cup.
+LYCOPERDON PYRIFORME = pear-shape.+
+The Pear-shaped Puff-ball.+
This species is shaped like a pear. It is from 1 to 4 inches high and is
covered with persistent warts so small as to look like scales to the
naked eye. It is of a dingy white or brownish-yellow. Its shape
separates it from the puff-balls, especially from the warted puff-ball,
L. gemmatum, which is nearly round with a base like a stem, an ashy-gray
color, and the surface is also warty, but unequally so, and as the warts
fall off they leave the puff-ball dotted.
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