THE WESTERN GIANT PUFFBALL (CALVATIA BOONIANA A. H. SMITH) IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN

摘要

Collections of the western giant puffball, Calvatia booniana A. H. Smith, are described from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Two collections were made by the authors in Houghton Co. in 2006 and 2007, and one collection, housed in the University of Michigan Fungus Collection, was made in Marquette Co. in 1968 by Ms. Ingrid Bartelli, and identified by Dr. Alexander H. Smith of the University of Michigan. Dr. Smith originally named the species based on collections from Idaho and Oregon, generally associated with sagebrush (Artemesia spp.). However, the collections from Houghton Co. were associated with white cedar (Thuja occidentalis). A survey of several other fungus herbaria yielded no other collection of C. booniana in the eastern U.S. Collections were studied macroscopically and microscopically and compared to the eastern giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea (Batsch ex. Pers.) Lloyd, to which it is quite similar. Because of the visibility and popularity of these mushrooms, a brief review of the history, naming and occurrence of these species is provided.