#sclerodermataceae

No, these aren't dog turds. These are Pisolithus mushrooms, which are delightfully punk in their refusal to conform with our limited vision of fungal aesthetics. Around here, they appear to associate most commonly with oaks*, emerging leathery and brown after rain, sometimes the size of baseballs, and simply crack apart from the top down, slowly exposing the brown spore mass. They can persist for months. Said spore mass can be utilized as a natural dye (brown, for the most part, though some mordants derive a nice mauve), hence the common name dyeball. The genus is a significant mychorrhizal partner that enhances the growth of associated trees to the point that the forestry industry deliberately inoculates soil with it, so don't mind the mess.

Growing abundantly in laterite soil in dry sclerophyll woodland north of Bindoon, Western Australia. Pisolithus species are various known as dyeball fungus (and this one certainly stained my fingers yellow), dog turd fungus, horse dung fungus, and other evocative names. 

Most earlier collections from Australia were identified as  P. tinctorius, the dyeball, or more rarely as the horse dung fungus P. arhizus, but it seems likely that neither are found in Australia, and that we actually have at least 5 native species. 

Endemic to Australia, where the original specimens were collected by mycologist Bruce Fuhrer. He was an Australian botanist and photographer, whose collection of fungi photos covered more than 3000 species.

Surprisingly, the Sclerodermataceae are in the Boletales, despite not resembling boletes in the slightest.

Known to be ectomycorhizal with woody plants, with fruiting bodies about 28 mm tall, with a pseudostipe 15–20 mm long.

Photos by Jasper Dean.