Podaxis pistillaris

(L.) Morse

Photograph by D. Hemmes © 1996
	Yes, this is an agaric, albeit it has lost hymenophoral organization and the ability
to forcibly discharge its basidiospores and become "secotioid." Although considered by
many to be a stalked puffball, Podaxis pistillaris is more closely allied with the shaggy
mane (Coprinus comatus (Mull.:Fr.) S. F. Gray) than with puffballs (see Hopple &
Vilgalys, Mycologia 86: 96-107, 1994). In the Hawaiian Islands, it is frequently
encountered along roadsides and in disturbed areas on the dry sides of the islands,
especially in the Kona area of Hawai`i and the Kihei area of Maui.

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