Blackening flap (Bovista nigrescens)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Agaricaceae (Champignon)
- Genus: Bovista (Porkhovka)
- Species: Bovista nigrescens (Blackening flap)
Fruit body:
Globular, often somewhat flattened, the leg is absent, the diameter is 3-6 cm. The color of the young mushroom is white, then it becomes yellowish. (When the outer white shell breaks, the mushroom turns dark, almost black.) The flesh, like all raincoats, is white at first, but darkens with age. When the spores mature, the upper part of the fruiting body breaks open, creating an opening for the spore to be ejected.
Spore powder:
Brown.
Spread:
Porkhovka blackening grows from early summer to mid-September in forests of various types, in meadows, along roads, preferring rich soils.
Similar species:
A similar flitting lead-gray differs both in smaller size and in the lighter (lead-gray, as the name implies) color of the inner shell. At some stages of development, this flap can also be confused with the common pseudo-raincoat (Scleroderma citrinum), which has a black, very tough pulp, and coarser warty skin.
Edibility:
In youth, while the pulp remains whitened, blackening powder is an edible mushroom of low quality, like all raincoats.
Notes:
A young large flutter looks very elegant in a dark spruce forest, in dense litter. Looking at the snow-white hemisphere protruding from the ground, you can think about some incredible underground bird, thus laying its eggs.