Calvatia gigantea

Giant Puffball ( Calvatia gigantea )

The Giant Puffball ( Calvatia gigantea, Syn Langermannia gigantea, Lycoperdon gigantea ) is a distinctive meadow mushroom with exceptionally large fruit bodies of the family of mushroom relatives. It used to be counted him to the class or subclass of the stomach fungi ( Gastromycetes or Gastromycetidae ), which, according to recent scientific findings have no taxonomic significance.

Features

The Giant Puffball is in diameter about 10-50 cm tall, is round and without handles. The skin is smooth and leathery. The color is young whitish, then yellowish green and olive brown old by the spores or reddish brown to dark brown. The fruit pulp is also initially white and olive brown and powdery during maturation. Older mushrooms smell unpleasant harnartig.

Artabgrenzung

The Giant Puffball one of the few types of fungi that can hardly be mistaken. In the young state, when the fruiting bodies are small, confusion with the toxic Wulstlingen may occur. It can also occur confusion with edible Stäublingen ( Beutelstäubling, Hasenstäubling ).

Ecology and phenology

Riesenboviste grow from June to September mainly in meadows, pastures and open woods ( loosened pine forests on rather dry sites ). Characteristic sites are especially old orchards, where even fairy rings of ten or more meters in diameter could be observed.

Importance

Each fruiting body produced inside about seven trillion spores. Boy in the gate still white copies are edible, but have only a small taste. You can sliced ​​like a Wiener Schnitzel prepared. Eaten raw, they act on mammals toxic. Previously smoldering copies in beekeeping were placed next to the hive to calm the bees. Even as tinder fungus was used. In addition, the anti-cancer agent containing the Riesenbovist Calvacin.

Swell