Golfballia ambusta

Golfballia ambusta is a purported species of

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. Kew mycologists unsuccessfully attempted to collect spores from the specimen before realizing the nature of the hoax.^[2]

In 1962, a similar burnt golf ball arrived at Kew from

A third burnt golf ball was sent to Kew from Kent in 1971, with the sender explicitly stating it was found at the edge of a fire.^[2][4] The three Golfballia ambusta specimens remain in the collection of Kew's fungarium, catalogued as K(M)230939 to K(M)230941.^[2]

In 2023, a new

Nathan Smith, a former head of the Kew fungarium, wrote that Golfballia ambusta holds significance among other academic hoaxes in mycology history, as it was officially described and published, with specimens formally archived in the fungarium; according to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, it would be considered a valid fungal species. Smith referred to the hoax as mycology's "Dada moment", raising the question "what is a fungus".^[4]