in botany: A genus of the natural order of fungi, belonging to the cryptogamia class of plants. The fungus is roundish, and full of farinaceous seeds. There are 10 species, of which the following are the most remarkable.

1. The tuber, truffles, or subterraneous puff-balls, is a native of woods both in Scotland and England. It is a subterraneous fungus, growing generally in clusters three or four inches underground, without any visible root. The figure of it is nearly spherical, the size that of a potato; the exterior coat at first white, afterwards black, and fluted with pyramidal or polyhedron tubercles; the internal substance solid and callous, of a dirty-white or pale-brown colour, grain'd like a nutmeg with serpentine lines; in which, according to Micheli, are imbedded minute oval capsules, containing each from two to four round warted seeds. The truffles of Great Britain seldom exceed three or four ounces in weight; but in Italy, and some other parts of the continent, they are said to have been found of the enormous size of eight and even 14 pounds. They are received at our tables, either fresh and roasted like potatoes, or dried and sliced into ragouts. They have a volatile and somewhat urinous smell, and are reputed to be aphrodisiacal. Dogs are with much pains taught to hunt for them by the scent, and to scratch up the ground under which they lie.

2. The bovita, or common puff-ball, is frequent in meadows and pastures in the autumn. It varies exceedingly in size, figure, supercicies, and colour. In general, it consists of a sack or bag, having a root at its base, and the bag composed of three membranes, an epidermis, a tough white skin, and an interior coat which adheres closely to the central pith. The pith in the young plants is of a yellowish colour, at first firm and solid, but soon changes into a cellular spongy substance, full of a dark dull-green powder, which discharges itself through an aperture at the top of the fungus, which aperture is formed of lacerated segments, in some varieties reflexed. The powder is believed to be the seeds, which through a microscope appear of a spherical form, and to be annexed to elastic hairs. See Haller's Hist. Helvet. n. 2172.

Among the numerous varieties of this fungus, the glabrum is most remarkable. It is a smooth fleshy kind, of a nearly spherical form, puckered or contracted at the root. This sometimes grows to an enormous size. It has been found in England as big as a man's head; and at Carraria, near Padua in Italy, specimens have been gathered, weighing 25 pounds, and measuring two yards in circumference; but its more ordinary size is that of a walnut or an apple.

The varieties of this species have no limits, being frequently found to run into one another; the scaly, warty, and echinated coats turning smooth as the plants grow old, and the neck of the fungus having no determinate length. The natural colour of the puff-ball is either white, grey, or ash-coloured; but is sometimes found yellowish, tawny, and brownish. The internal spongy part of it, bound on to wounds, is esteemed good to stop bleedings. Pressed and dried in an oven, the puff-ball becomes a kind of tinder, the smoke of which is said to intoxicate bees. See Gent. Mag. July 1766. The Italians fry the great variety, and indeed any of the others when young, and eat them with salt and oil, according to the relation of Marigli.