I’m a civilian working in Iraq and I came across this. I have very limited bandwidth here so I am having trouble navigating identification sites. Can anyone help me with keying this one? there are no visible gills and the cap is/was fused to the stock.
Looks like Coprinus comatus (Shaggy Ink-cap). I don't know if that occurs in Iraq, it could always be a different related species of Coprinus.
I thought maybe it was a coprinus or shaggy cap, as I recall from botany, however there are no visible gills and the cap, after going to spore, does not completely self digest. It merely dries out and forms sort of a dried bag that develops cracks. I have very little experience with fungi and I thank you for your help.
I'd guess that is because of your hot, dry climate - over here, when they are mature, the gill structure breaks down into drops of spore-bearing liquid, but I can easily see that where you are, the liquid would dry out before it can drip off fully. If you can find a fresh one that has not started to break down yet, you should be able to see the gill structure.
This should be a desert puffball, especially since it was found in Iraq. It could be Podaxis pistillaris, or something like it. Check out an image search on this mushroom in google. http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-25,GGLR:en&q=Podaxis+pistillaris
Seems Podaxis pistillaris (which is not a puffball [Lycoperdaceae]!) and Coprinus comatus are fairly closely related: http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben178.html More interestingly, Coprinus comatus is closer to Podaxis pistillaris than it is to most other Coprinus species (so some name changes can be expected in the future!): http://www.biology.duke.edu/fungi/mycolab/publications/Coprinus_Fig3.gif
Podaxis pistillaris, spot on! The images @ http://images.google.com/images?svnu...is+pistillaris, closely resembled variations I've observed. Thanks for your help. Im in southern Iraq and I understand that Podaxis pistillaris is common in Yemen which would explain its' ocurrance here.
Also known as the desert shaggy mane. There is info about it in David Arora's book "All the the rain promises and more".
