Raincoat black-prickly (Lycoperdon echinatum) photo and description

Raincoat black-prickly (Lycoperdon echinatum)

Systematics:
  • Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
  • Family: Agaricaceae (Champignon)
  • Genus: Lycoperdon (Raincoat)
  • Species: Lycoperdon echinatum (Black-thorny raincoat)

Synonyms:

  • Hedgehog raincoat

  • Black raincoat

  • Needle raincoat

  • Spiked raincoat

Raincoat black-prickly (Lycoperdon echinatum)

External description

Reverse pear-shaped, ovoid, spherical, tuberous fruiting body, hemispherical, thinning downwards, forming a thick and short stump, going into the soil with tapered thin hyphae. Its top is densely covered with flabbers, spines pressed closely to each other, which give the appearance of a hedgehog to the mushroom. Tiny spines are arranged in a ring, surrounding a larger spine. The spines fall off with ease, exposing a smooth surface. Young mushrooms have white flesh; in old ones, it becomes a spore powder of greenish-brown color. In the center of full ripening, a round hole appears, from where spores pour out, "dusting" through the upper opening part of the shell. The fruit body can change color from white to light brown. First, dense and white flesh, which later becomes a powdery red-brown color.

Edibility

Edible as long as it remains white. A rare mushroom! The prickly raincoat is edible at a young age, belongs to the fourth category. The mushroom is used boiled and dried.

Habitat

This fungus is found in small groups or singly, mainly in heather wastelands, deciduous forests, on calcareous soils - in mountainous and hilly areas.

Season

Summer autumn.