Initially covered by a thick, felted, whitish layer, the puffballs develop a characteristic checkered skin (peridium) in age.

When the internal spore mass, the gleba, is firm and white, the puffball is edible, although some individuals may suffer mild gastrointestinal symptoms after eating it.

Microscopically, the gleba consists of spherical, dark brown spores with rounded bumps on their surfaces, and a capillitium—intricately branched fibers that form long thornlike spines.

The species was originally described in 1805 as Lycoperdon corium in the second volume of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Flore Française.

They attributed authorship to French botanist Louis Ben Guersent, who discovered it in an alfalfa field between the town of La Sotte and Rouen in northern France.

[10] In a more recent (2008) cladistic analysis, Mycenastrum was shown to be a sister group to the Lycoperdaceae; authors Larsson and Jeppson agreed with Zeller (1949) and Pilat's (1958) decision to regard Mycenastrium as a monotypic genus in the separate family Mycenastraceae.

[38] Its shape ranges from roughly spherical, to obovate (egg-shaped) or pyriform (pear-shaped), sometimes plicate (crumpled, wrinkled) around a somewhat fibrous, persistent tuft of mycelium.

This is continuous at first but eventually cracks and peels away in thin flakes, exposing a leathery to corky, nearly smooth, light brown to dark pinkish-brown surface.

Subsequently, the gleba becomes olivaceous, olive-brown, and finally, dark olive when dry, and then develops a characteristic pungent smell.

ferrugineum has a deep rusty red to reddish orange gleba, clearly distinguishing it from the glebal coloring of the main subspecies.

[44] In Mexico, a large collection was consumed by several people who confused the species with Calvatia, a puffball genus containing popular edible members.

[45] Because of their thick outer peridium, Mycenastrum corium puffballs can withstand hard blows without breaking, and children have used them as replacements for balls.

These fissures usually radiate from a common center near the top of the fruit body and finally produce very irregular star-like teeth.

This tension causes the irregular star-like pieces of the peridium to gradually separate and curve outward, thus opening the top of the puffball during dry weather.

[39] Fruiting occurs at low elevations in groups in open habitats dominated by sagebrush and saltbrush, or in grassy or shrubby wet areas in dry prairie.

[48] Mature fruit bodies can be broken loose from attachment to the substrate and be rolled around by wind, similar to some Bovista puffballs.