page_title: Calbovista
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Calbovista / Description
caption_attribution_description: A bisected fruit body of the puffball fungus Calbovista subsculpta". Specimen found and photographed in Yuba Pass, Tahoe National Forest, Sierra Co., California, USA.
context_page_description: Calbovista is a fungal genus containing the single species Calbovista subsculpta, commonly known as the sculptured puffball, sculptured giant puffball, and warted giant puffball. It is a common puffball of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast ranges of western North America. The puffball is more or less round with a diameter of up to 15 cm, white becoming brownish in age, and covered with shallow pyramid-shaped plates or scales. It fruits singly or in groups along roads and in open woods at high elevations, from summer to autumn.
  Although the puffball was originally described as new to science by Elizabeth Eaton Morse in 1935, it was not published validly until 60 years later. The species is named for its resemblance to Calvatia sculpta, from which it can be usually distinguished in the field by its less prominent pyramidal warts, and microscopically by the antler-like branches of its capillitium. Calbovista subsculpta is a good edible species while its interior flesh is still firm and white. As the puffball matures, its insides become dark brown and powdery from mature spores.
context_section_description: Fruit bodies are irregularly top-shaped to roughly spherical, measuring  7–17 cm (3–6 ¹⁄₂ in) wide by 6–12 cm (2 ¹⁄₂–4 ¹⁄₂ in) high. It has a two-layered peridium. The outer layer of the peridium (the exoperidium) is thick and leathery (except where it thins toward the base), measuring 5–10 mm (³⁄₁₆–³⁄₈ in) thick. It is divided into irregular three- to six-sided, low pyramids that are usually blunt, but sometimes pointed. The pyramids are 5–8 mm (³⁄₁₆–⁵⁄₁₆ in) thick. They have parallel markings, a feature Morse attributed to the differences in growth rate caused by variations in daytime and nighttime temperatures. The pyramid centers have short brownish hairs. The pyramids cover the entire peridium except for near the base, where it is smooth. Warts on the surface of young fruit bodies may be disproportionately thick.
  The inner peridium is a thin shiny tissue that is depressed into areas demarcated by the pyramidal plates. The puffball base, which occupies about a third to a quarter of the bottom of the fruit body, consists of moderately-sized chambers that persist even after the gleba has matured and the spores have dispersed. The base can assume a purplish hue after weathering. The base is rooted into the soil with rhizomorphs. Initially white, the gleba turns color from yellow to golden brown to dark brown as the spores mature. As the gleba dries, the inner peridium dries and cracks, exposing the spore mass in cracks between the scales. The gleba is supported by a yellowish-brown to light brown subgleba.
  The spherical spores measure 3–5 μm, including an outer covering (an epispore) of about 0.5 μm. Their surface texture ranges from smooth to faintly warted. They have an oil droplet, and a translucent pedicel (a small stalk) up to 2.5 μm long. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 10–12.5 μm long by 5–7.5 μm wide. The capillitium comprises short, highly branched (resembling antlers) and entangled threads measuring 5–10 μm wide with walls up to 2.5 μm thick. Capillitial threads do not have septa.
  The puffballs are edible when the interior gleba is still firm and white. The flesh has no odor and a mild taste.
caption: Fruit bodies are edible when the interior gleba is still white and firm.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S7c", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX S7cV1.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:06:09 10:13:57", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "292", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6756", "EXIF ExposureTime": "5/299", "EXIF FNumber": "37/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "55", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:06:06 12:24:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:06:06 12:24:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "101/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7238", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "61", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "4a87856d84d1e02e831f33cb7e99e4a0"}