thick; tapering slightly to apex; whitish, sometimes discoloring a little brownish; finely hairy to shaggy; with a white, skirtlike ring that may discolor brownish; with a slightly enlarged but not bulbous base that is set in a sack-like, flaring or lobed, white volva . flesh: white; unchanging when sliced...
, becoming brownish and powdery. gills: usually poorly formed and veinlike; attached to the stem; thick; distant; whitish or grayish. stem: - cm long; up to cm thick; more or less equal; dry; smooth or velvety; whitish to brownish; basal mycelium whitish to brownish. flesh: white; unchanging when sliced...
long remaining adnate. stem: - cm long; - cm thick; more or less equal; bright yellow at the apex; yellowish to brownish overall, with a persistently carmine red base; bald; dry; not reticulate ; basal mycelium white. flesh: whitish to pale yellow in cap; yellow in stem; staining promptly blue when sliced...
tapered, rooting portion; prominently reticulate with vertically elongated, orange to red reticulation; often with a red to wine red, velvety base; yellowish to orangish above and reddish below; bruising and discoloring blue. flesh: whitish to yellow in the cap; yellow to red in the stem; bluing when sliced...
orange-yellow at the apex and the base, especially when young; colored like the cap overall; dry; reticulate with a fine red reticulum over the upper half; bald underneath the reticulum; basal mycelium yellowish. flesh: pale yellow in cap; sometimes with reddish streaks in stem; staining promptly blue when sliced...
cm deep. stem: - cm long; - cm thick; more or less equal; often curved near the base; not reticulate ; yellow, coated with red, especially toward the base; bruising blue; basal mycelium whitish to yellow, bruising dark red. flesh: yellow in the cap; darker yellow in the stem; promptly bluing when sliced...
, calvatia craniiformis is a medium-sized to large puffball that often develops a distinctive, skull-like shape as it develops (hence the epithet "craniiformis"). the skull shape is reminiscent of an inverted pear, and results from the well-developed "sterile base" underneath the spore case. when sliced...
throughout development; often developing cross-veins with maturity. stem: - cm long; - mm thick; fairly slender; equal, or tapering downward; bald; brownish to brownish yellow or yellow; fleshy but becoming partially hollow at the core; basal mycelium white. flesh: whitish to yellowish; unchanging when sliced...
frequent cross-veins, or becoming elaborately veined. stem: - cm long and - cm thick; fairly stocky; equal; more or less bald; pale yellow; discoloring and bruising slowly orangish brown, especially near the base; fleshy. flesh: whitish; thick; stringy; water-logged when wet; not changing color when sliced...
young, becoming larger and irregular to angular near the stem and with age; tubes to mm deep. stem: - cm long; - cm thick; more or less equal; dry; colored like the cap; bald; base with bright to dull yellow mycelium . flesh: yellowish in the cap; brighter yellow in the stem; bluing erratically when sliced...