Apioperdon pyriforme

pear-shaped puffball

Names across languages

From the latest record: 2024-10-06.

Internal gleba is white and firm when young, turning olive-brown and powdery as it matures, filled with spores

Pear-shaped to round, covered with small, fine spines or granules that wear off with age, giving the surface a smooth, pale brown to tan appearance

N/A (Gasteroid fungi, spore mass is internal)

Pseudostipe, shorter and less defined, often off-center or absent, typically blends with the cap, leading to its pear-like shape

Spore print olive-brown to dark brown

Saprobic, growing in dense clusters on decaying wood, especially stumps and logs of both deciduous and coniferous trees, late summer to autumn

Edible when young, but only before the gleba turns dark and powdery, not highly regarded, though safe to eat when firm and white inside

Fruit body small to medium-sized, up to 3–5 cm tall

Cap 2–4 cm in diameter

Odour earthy, mild

Spores round, 3.5–4.5 µm, covered with fine spines or warts, produced inside gleba

Small, pear-shaped puffball that grows on decaying wood, often found in dense clusters

2017). In Vizzini & Ercole, Phytotaxa 299(1): 81.

Raudoja, Harjumaa, Estonia

Coniferous (spruce-pine) forest, on decaying hardwood

59°22'44.8"N 25°29'07.0"E

🔆 Occasional sun, open spot