Lead-gray flap (Bovista plumbea)Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Agaricaceae (Champignon)
- Genus: Bovista (Porkhovka)
- Species: Bovista plumbea (Lead-gray flap)
- Damn tobacco
- Lead raincoat
The fruit body is 1 - 3 (5) cm in diameter, round, spherical, with a thin root process, white, often dirty from adhering earth and sand, later - gray, steel, dull with a dense skin. When ripe, it opens with a small hole at the top with a ragged edge through which spores spread.
The spore powder is brown.
The pulp is white at first, then grayish, odorless
From June to September (mass fruiting during warming from late July to mid-September), on poor sandy soil, in woodlands, on roadsides, in glades and meadows, singly and in groups, not infrequently. Dry last year's brown bodies filled with spores are found in the spring.
Edible mushroom (4 categories) at a young age (with a light fruiting body and white flesh), used in a similar way to raincoats.