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[ Basidiomycota > Boletales > Sclerodermataceae > Scleroderma . . . ] Scleroderma septentrionale by Michael Kuo, 20 June 2025 The only reason I went across the sand dunes that year was because recent rains had created an impassable swamp on one of my usual trails through the woods in northern Michigan. Much to my surprise, however, the dunes were full of mushrooms, including Russula ventricosipes and Laccaria trullissata. But the most curious sand-dune mushroom of the lot was Scleroderma septentrionale. Like other species of Scleroderma, this mushroom is a puffball with thick rhizomorphs at its base, filled with blackish spore dust at maturity. Many Scleroderma fruitbodies are partially submerged in soil when they begin to develop, pushing themselves upwards as they mature in order to distribute airborne spores. However, because of its habitat in sand dunes, Scleroderma septentrionale must thrust its spore-filled ball very high into the air to compensate for shifting, wind-blown sands. Thus the rhizomorphs become bundled together and interlaced with sand to create a sort of "stem" that can reach over 10 cm in length. Scleroderma meridionale is nearly identical to Scleroderma septentrionale, but has spores with shorter spines that extend 1–1.5 µm high, along with a more southerly distribution; it was originally described from Portugal (Demoulin & Malençon 1971) and is distributed in southern Europe, as well as in North America from roughly the 35th parallel southward. Scleroderma septentrionale was treated as "Scleroderma macrorhizon," in part, by Guzmán (1970) and by Smith, Smith & Weber (1979). Description: Ecology: Mycorrhizal with pines, including eastern white pine and Scots pine; growing scattered or gregariously in sand or sand dunes; originally described from Finland (Jeppson 1998); distributed in northern Europe and in northern North America (from roughly the 43rd parallel northward); summer and fall. The illustrated and described collection is from Michigan. Fruiting Body: 2–4.5 cm across; with a more or less round structure sitting atop a well defined pseudostem 5–10 cm long, composed of bundled, whitish rhizomorphs that extend underground; surface yellowish and mottled, bald or with small and irregular scales concentrated near the apex; bruising reddish; rind 1–2 mm thick; interior fleshy and white at first, becoming purplish brown, then black and powdery. Odor: Not distinctive. Chemical Reactions: KOH on dried surface slowly reddish. Microscopic Features: Spores 11–14 µm excluding ornamentation; globose or subglobose; densely spiny with narrow spines 2–3 µm long; reticulate; golden brown in KOH. Peridial hyphae 3–6 µm wide; smooth or sometimes a little roughened; often tortuous and asymmetrical or constricted in places; hyaline in KOH; clamp connections present. REFERENCES: M. Jeppson, 1998. (Guzmán, 1970; Guzmán & Ovrebo, 2000; Kuo & Methven, 2014; Baroni, 2017; Jeppson, 2018; Læssøe & Petersen, 2019.) Herb. Kuo 09120414. This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms. |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2025, June). Scleroderma septentrionale. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: /scleroderma_septentrionale.html |