03/Aug/25, 4:25 PM
Keila-Joa õpperada, Meremõisa, Harjumaa, Eesti
Park near waterfall, Oak trees, in clay soil with moss
59°23'43.7"N 24°17'38.8"E
🌡️ 26°C ⛅ Hot sun and rain clouds
Original Instagram postScleroderma areolatum
leopard earthball
- Scientific identification
- Scleroderma areolatum Ehrenb.
- Family
- Sclerodermataceae
- Class
- Agaricomycetes
- Genus
- Scleroderma
Names across languages
- English: leopard earthball
- German: Leopardenfell-Hartbovist
- Finnish: Ruutumukulakuukunen
- Estonian: Leopard-murukera
- Russian: Ложнодождевик пятнистый
The scientific profile
From the latest record: 2025-08-03.
Hymenium
Internal gleba: initial whitish-flesh, turning dark violet-black or olive-brown and powdery at maturity, ruptures irregularly at the apex
Cap
No cap; fruit bodies globose to subglobose, peridium thin (<1mm), yellowish-cream turning ochre brown, with distinctly small brown scales
Hymenium Attachment
N/A
Stipe
With a short whitish pseudostipe with white rhizomorphs present, base often root-like
Spore print
Spore print dark purplish-black to olive-brown through maturation
Ecology
Ectomycorrhizal with oaks, on damp, clay-rich soils in mixed woodlands, garden edges, mossy margins, open woodland litter, in small groups from summer through autumn
Edibility
Poisonous—may cause vomiting, profuse sweating, collapse, and fainting
Fruit body
Fruit body 1-5 cm across, pseudostipe ≤2cm when present
Chemical reactions
Surface turns red to reddish-brown or dark red upon application of 5% KOH
Odour
Faint, slightly sweet
Taste
Bitter or indistict
Microscopy
Globose to subglobose, dense spines (1-2µm), 11-15µm diameter, not reticulate, inamyloid, pale yellow-brown in KOH
Overview
Small, terrestrial earthball with a tough yellow rind flecked in small brown scales forming a leopard-like pattern
1818). Sylv. Mycol. Berol. (Berlin): 27.
Field encounters
Source hashtags
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