Handkea is a genus of puffball

Puffball

A puffball is a member of any of several groups of fungus in the division Basidiomycota. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage. The distinguishing feature of all puffballs is...

 mushrooms in the Lycoperdaceae

Lycoperdaceae

Lycoperdaceae is a family of approximately 150 fungi now known to lie in the Agaricales. Historically they were placed in their own order Lycoperdales. Members of the Lycoperdaceae family are known as the true puffballs. Unlike other types of fungi that hold spores in gills or teeth, puffballs...

 family. In 1989, German mycologist Hanns Kreisel described the genus Handkea to include species of Calvatia

Calvatia

Calvatia is a genus of puffball mushrooms which includes the spectacular giant puffball C. gigantea. It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brought about by molecular phylogeny, has been split; the puffballs,...

with distinct microscopic features, including a unique type of capillitium (coarse thick-walled hyphae in the gleba

Gleba

Gleba is the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn.The gleba is a solid mass of spores, generated within an enclosed area within the sporocarp. The continuous maturity of the sporogenous cells leave the spores behind as a powdery mass that can be easily blown away...

), with curvy slits instead of the usual pores. Although accepted by some authors, the genus concept has been rejected by others.

Phylogenetic analyses published in 2008 shows that Handkea may be grouped in a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 along with species from several other genera, including Lycoperdon

Lycoperdon

Lycoperdon is a genus of puffball mushrooms. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 50 species. In general, it contains the smaller species such as the pear shaped puffball and the gem studded puffball. Most of the time they grow from dead wood and if they grow through the...

, Vascellum, Morganella

Morganella (fungi)

Morganella is a genus of fungi in the family Agaricaceae. The widely distributed genus is prevalent in tropical areas, and contains nine species....

, Bovistella

Bovistella

Bovistella is a genus of fungi in the family Agaricaceae.-External links:*...

, and Calvatia

Calvatia

Calvatia is a genus of puffball mushrooms which includes the spectacular giant puffball C. gigantea. It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brought about by molecular phylogeny, has been split; the puffballs,...

.

Species

• H. canadensis
• H. capensis
• H. excipuliformis
  Handkea excipuliformis
  Handkea excipuliformis, synonymous with Lycoperdon polymorphum var. excipuliforme, Calvatia excipuliformis, Calvatia saccata, Lycoperdon cervinum sensu Bolton p.p., Lycoperdon elatum, Lycoperdon excipuliforme, Lycoperdon excipuliforme forma flavescens, Lycoperdon excipuliforme var...
  
  
• H. fumosa
• H. hesperia
• H. lloydii
• H. lycoperdoides
• H. subcretacea
• H. utriformis
  Handkea utriformis
  Handkea utriformis, synonymous with Lycoperdon utriforme or Calvatia utriformis, is a species of the Lycoperdaceae family of puffballs. A rather large mushroom, it may reach dimensions of up to broad by tall. It is commonly known as the mosaic puffball, a reference to the polygonal-shaped...
  
  
• H. wandae