A small puffball-like fungus whose spore sac sits on a thin, separate stalk and opens through a small, tube-like mouth at the top. It grows in sandy or calcareous soil and often persists through winter. It is not a food species.
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Habitat
Saprotrophic among moss or short grass on sandy or stony soil, most often in coastal dunes and dune slacks; fruits from about September to January in Britain (to March in southern Europe) and persists through winter.
Distribution
Europe, from southern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean; the most common stalkball in Britain and Ireland. Also recorded in North America.
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Spore sac: small, rounded, whitish to greyish, smooth; opens by a small apical pore surrounded by a reddish-brown ring. Stalk: thin, fibrous, mottled grey-brown, inserted into the base of the spore sac, with a brown basal volva; base often buried in sand. Gleba: white and firm when young, becoming brown and powdery.
