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Desert Shaggy Mane
A stalked, puffball-like desert fungus that looks like an unopened shaggy mane on a tough, woody stem; the cap never opens to free gills but fills with contorted plates that ripen into dark brown to black spore powder. Despite the resemblance to Coprinus comatus, DNA places it in the Agaricaceae near lepiotoid mushrooms. A 2023 revision recognizes at least 16 Podaxis species, and whether North American collections are the same species Linnaeus described from India is unresolved.
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Not known to be poisonous. It is said to be edible only when young and still white inside, but it is not commonly eaten, the stem is woody, and the identity of North American material is unresolved, so treat edibility with caution; older specimens with brown or black interiors are not food.
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