Lycoperdon echinatum, commonly known as the spiny puffball or the
spring puffball, is a type of puffball mushroom in the genus
Lycoperdon. The saprobic species has been found in Africa, Europe,
Central America and North America, where it grows on soil in deciduous
woods, glades, and pastures. Molecular analysis indicates that
Lycoperdon echinatum is closely related to the puffball genus Handkea.
Initially white in color, the puffballs turn a dark brown as they
mature, at the same time changing from nearly round to somewhat
flattened. The fruit bodies are edible when young, when the interior is
white and firm and before it has turned into a powdery brown mass of
spores. Young specimens of L. echinatum resemble another edible spiny
puffball, Lycoperdon pulcherrimum, but this latter species does not
turn brown as it ages. Laboratory tests have shown that extracts of the
fruit bodies can inhibit the growth of several bacteria that are
pathogenic to humans.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoperdon_echinatum>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Citizens of Toledo, Castile, who were opposed to the rule of the
foreign-born Charles V, rose up in revolt when the royal government
attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Comuneros>
1853:
The first passenger line of what would become Indian Railways, the
state-owned railway company of India, opened between Bombay and Thane.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways>
1919:
Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army launched the Vilna offensive to
capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_offensive>
2001:
India and Bangladesh began a five-day conflict over their disputed
border, which ended in a stalemate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian%E2%80%93Bangladeshi_border_conflict>
2007:
In one of the deadliest shooting incidents in United States history, a
gunman killed 32 people and wounded over 20 more before committing
suicide at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
Blacksburg, Virginia .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
heir apparent (n):
(usually monarchy) Someone who will definitely inherit, assuming he
survives the one from whom he is inheriting
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heir_apparent>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
111px
It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be.
--Anatole France
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France>