Image of Handkea excipuliformis

Description:

Slo.: visoka pleivka, visoka pranica - syn: Clavatia saccata (Vahl ex SCHurn.) Morgan, Calvatia excipuliformis, Hankea excipuliformis - Habitat: edge of light mixed wood, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, Ostrya carpinifolia dominant trees; moderately inclined mountain slope, south aspect; skeletal, colluvial, calcareous ground; quite sunny place; relatively warm and dry place; exposed to direct rain; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, elevation 555 m (1.820 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comments: Lycoperdon excipuliforme is easy to recognize when old by the fact that its characteristically spongy stem remains standing long after all the rest decays and disappears. Fig. 28 shows what remained of the fruitbody after two days of heavy rain (360 mm of rain in less than 48 hours!). Growing solitary; diameter of the 'head' 4.5 cm; stipe 8 cm long and 3 cm in diameter; smell indistinctive when young, when old unpleasantly stinking, also when dry; SP brown, oac638. Spores warty. Dimensions: 4,7 [5,2 ; 5,3] 5,7 x 4,5 [4,9 ; 5,1] 5,6 microns; Q = [1 ; 1,06] 1,1; N = 40; C = 95%; Me = 5,2 x 5 microns; Qe = 1. Olympus CH20, NEA 100x/1.25, magnification 1.000 x, oil, fresh material, in water. AmScope MA500 digital camera. Herbarium: Mycotheca and lichen herbarium (LJU-Li) of Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vena pot 2, Ljubljana, Index Herbariorum LJF Ref.: (1) S.Buczacki, Collins Fungi Guide, Collins (2012), p 434. (2) G.J.Krieglsteiner (Hrsg.), Die Grosspilze Bade-Wrttembergs, Band 2, Ulmer (2000), p 136. (3) M.Bon, Parey's Buch der Pilze, Kosmos (2005), p 304. (4) R.Phillips, Mushrooms, Macmillan (2006), p 328. (5 J. Breitenbach, F. Kraenzlin, Eds., Fungi of Switzerland, Vol.2. Verlag Mykologia (1986), p 388.