Scleroderma polyrhizum    Pers.:Pers. 



New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Boletales/Sclerodermataceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Gasteromycetideae/Sclerodermatales/Sclerodermataceae  

synonyms: Scleroderma geaster 

edibility : poisonous

potential confusions with  Scleroderma polyrhizum toxicity of Scleroderma polyrhizum genus Scleroderma  

The fruiting body is irregularly globular, tough and rather large, often half-buried in the sand, its skin being very thick thick (up to 1cm) and tearing to form a branched star to release the spores when mature.

The fertile surface is internal: the spores are released as dust when mature.

It grows on the ground, in Mediterranean pine woods.
Dimensions:

Distinctive features : globular shape with very thick outer skin (up to 10mm), tearing to form a star-like shape when mature to release the spores; in Mediterranean pine woods

Scleroderma polyrhizum is rare and confined in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Scleroderma polyrhizum in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Scleroderma polyrhizum in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18