Golfballia ambusta

In 1952, a burnt golf ball was submitted to mycologists from an anonymous source in Lancashire, northwest England, and deposited in the Fungarium at Kew Gardens, London.

[1][2] The submitter claimed it to be a specimen of a "rare fungal species" belonging to the genus Queletia, but mycologists thought its appearance more closely resembled Scleroderma citrinum, which has an irregular, nearly spherical sporocarp with thick leathery skin and colours that vary from white to tan or brown.

The surface of a golf ball is dimpled and, when burned, its outer shell cracks to expose the rubber core, which is similar to the dark gleba of a mature S. citrinum sporocarp.

The article states that the specimens resemble "small, hard but elastic balls used in certain tribal rites of the Caledonians, which take place all season in enclosed paddocks with partially mown grass";[3] the description is likely a humorous allusion to golf, Caledonia being the Latin name for Scotland.

Dennis described the specimens as having the odour of old or heated Indian rubber and stated that no spores were collected, leaving its method of reproduction unknown, and gave the purported species the binomial name Golfballia ambusta, an approximation of 'burnt golf ball' in Dog Latin.