English: Elaters with spirally-thickened walls:

Battarrea phalloides (sandy stiltball) is a fungus that, according to the taxonomic classification, is affiliated with the division Basidiomycota, family Agaricaceae. Notwithstanding the fact that it appears to have a mushroom-like fruiting body, the species belongs to the informal group of gasteroid fungi. In their early development, the fruiting bodies are egg-shaped, and in the later stages, a high stalk is constituted (occasionally up to 40 cm) covered with long hairs while in the upper part, there is a "sac", which is umbrella-shaped in this species, known as a peridial cap. Inside the peridial cap, the gleba develops in the form of powdery substance (spore mass). When the fruit body is fully ripen, the peridial cap is shed and the spore mass is dispersed by the wind or rain.

A microscopic slide should be prepared in order to observe the structures of the gleba. The upper, umbrella-like part of the fruit body, where the gleba is already exposed on the surface, is set on a binocular. A drop of Melzer's reagent is put onto the microscopic slide; subsequently, with tweezers, material is extracted from the mature gleba, placed into the reagent and a cover glass is laid. The cover glass is gently pressed with absorbent paper so that the material can adhere to the glass and be placed in a single plane. First, the microscopic slide is observed at 100x magnification (10x objective lens), and later at 1,000x magnification (100x objective lens). Brown, thick-walled spores are seen with densely spaced, tiny warts on the surface. Next to the spores, a pseudocapilium made of smooth, thin-walled hyphae is visible. Afterwards the elaters are examined, which have smooth surface and a ring-like, spiral thickening of the wall. Elaters are hygroscopic structures that absorb moisture and assist in spore dispersal.

Planned and performed by Slavica Tofilovska and Katerina Rusevska, Department of Biology, FNSM, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.