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Saturday 22 August 2015

Dusky puffball - Lycoperdon foetidum Wahlenb. (1794) - Cyprus

Lycoperdon nigrescens, with the synonym Lycoperdon foetidum, commonly known as the dusky puffball, is a type of puffball mushroom in the genus Lycoperdon. It was first described scientifically in 1794 by the Swedish naturalist Göran Wahlenberg. Visually similar to other species when young, it grows increasingly darker with age, and lacks the pronounced stipe that old Lycoperdon perlatum attain.

It appears from summer to fall in both conifer and hardwood forests, in addition to alpine areas. The caps are shaped somewhat like pears, with spines ranging in brightness, which later break off. The surface is dark between the spines. The stipe has thin strands coming from its base

Lycoperdon is a genus of puffball mushrooms. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 50 species. In general, it contains the smaller species such as the pear-shaped puffball and the gem-studded puffball. It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, as the type genus which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brought about by molecular phylogeny, has been split. Lycoperdon is now placed in the family Agaricaceae of the order Agaricales.
The name comes from lycos meaning wolf and perdon meaning to break wind; thus the name literally means wolf-farts.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photos Lithrodontas 11/11/2006 by George Konstantinou



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