Scleroderma areolatum    Ehrenb. 

common name(s) : Leopard Earthball 

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

synonyms: Scleroderma lycoperdoides 

edibility : poisonous

photo gallery of  Scleroderma areolatum
photo gallery of  Scleroderma areolatum potential confusions with  Scleroderma areolatum toxicity of Scleroderma areolatum genus Scleroderma  

The fruiting body is irregularly globular, tough, cracked, with small regular flat scales on a pale background resembling panther skin, the skin being less than 1mm thick, yellow brownish then ochre, with a very short stem (1-2 cm long), formed by the assembly of mycelial strands.

The flesh is purplish-black, turning later to powder; its taste is mild; the odour is unpleasant, of rubber or metal.

The fertile surface is internal: the spores are released as dust when mature. The spore print is dark brown.

It grows on the ground, in broad-leaved and coniferous woods, on bare ground in damps areas.

The fruiting period takes place from July to December.
Dimensions: width of fruiting body approximately 3 cm (between 1 and 6 cm)
  total height approximately 1.5 cm (between 1 and 2 cm)

Distinctive features : globular shape spotted with dark brown scales like a panther's skin, then looking like a netted pattern once the scales fall off ; thin outer shell (less then 1mm); short pseudo-stem constituted by mycelial strands; faint odour

Scleroderma areolatum is quite rare and widely present in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Scleroderma areolatum in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Scleroderma areolatum in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18