We usually think of mushrooms as popping up fast and disintegrating rapidly. Many puffballs come up and disperse spores in fall, then persist all winter under the snow. Once revealed in spring, they continue to release spores when stepped on by animals or impacted by rain drops. Wonderful strategy to ensure dispersal of millions of spores in fall, spring, and into the summer.
Puffballs formed in fall persist under snow and reappear in spring able to continue spore dispersal. Photo by Jesse Ritcey
With a boot squish, a cloud of spores blows into the air currents. Photo by Jesse Ritcey
Welcome to Mushroom Monday for April 16, 2018 Puffballs are a specialized group of mushrooms that produce spheroidal fruitbodies. They belong to a group called Gastromycetes meaning “stomach fungi.” In this group, spores are produced internally in sacs that are generally more-or-less oval. Spores are not forcibly discharged as in the gilled mushrooms, but instead the outer membranes (the peridium) open with pores, or by disintegrating, and the powdery spores are released by wind, or the impact of rain or animals stepping on them. They are called puffballs because clouds …Continue reading →
