Puffballs (MushroomExpert.Com)
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Puffballs
[ Basidiomycetes . . . ]
by Michael Kuo
The term "puffball," as I am using it here, is not at all scientific; I mean more or less any mushroom that looks like a ball when mature. Typically the interior of a puffball is composed of spore-bearing flesh. When the puffball matures it splits open, or a perforation develops on surface of the ball, through which the spores escape--when raindrops land on the puffball, via air currents, or by some other means.
Puffballs range widely in size and appearance--from tiny species that grow in clusters on wood, to large, terrestrial species growing in fairy rings in meadows. A few species, like Calvatia gigantea, are enormous, reaching diameters of 50 cm!
When sliced open, puffballs contain only flesh--or, if they have matured, spore dust. This separates them from buttons of some gilled mushrooms that have universal veils and can appear like puffballs, since those mushrooms display the future mushroom in cross-section. Some slime molds can appear like puffballs, as well, but when sliced open they are filled with gooey, gelatinous material. Stinkhorn "eggs" are also gelatinous inside, and display the stinkhorn-to-be when sliced open.
Most puffballs are edible; some are quite popular and can be found for sale at farmers' markets in the Midwest during the late summer. A few species, like Scleroderma citrinum, are poisonous. However, slicing the puffball open will determine its edibility: if there is only thick, white flesh inside, you are safe (as far as I know). Poisonous species have brownish, purplish black or blackish interiors, and often have rock-hard, granular flesh. Puffballs that have begun to mature and have discolored, yellowish or brownish flesh should be avoided--more for food poisoning and palatability reasons than for actual toxicity. Slicing open your puffball will also keep you from eating a deadly Amanita button, since the future mushroom is clearly evident in cross-section (see the illustration to the right).
Taxonomically, the term "puffballs" is incoherent, since they are so diverse and come from many different families and genera. They are all Basidiomycetes, since their spores are produced on basidia--but some belong in the gilled mushroom order (many in the Lycoperdaceae family) while others are more closely related to the boletes and a few are related to the stinkhorns, according to recent DNA research.
If your puffball is growing underground, it may well be a truffle or false truffle. I have not yet treated these mushrooms at MushroomExpert.Com--and, to be frank, I know virtually nothing about them; I recommend Arora (1986) for a thorough introductory treatment.
Below are links to puffball pages, at MushroomExpert.Com and elsewhere, and a list of sources for those who want to pursue puffball identification further.
Amanita button in cross-section
References for Puffballs
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms demystified: A comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 959 pp.
Binder, M. & Bresinsky, A. (2002). Derivation of a polymorphic lineage of Gasteromycetes from boletoid anscestors. Mycologia 94, 85-98.
Coker, W. C. & Couch, J. N. (1928). The Gasteromycetes of the eastern United States and Canada. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Reprinted by Dover Publications, 1974.
Guzmán, G. (1970). Monografía del género Scleroderma Pers. emend. Fr. (Fungi - Basidiomycetes). Darwiniana 16: 233-401.
Miller, O. K. & Miller, H. H. (1988). Gasteromycetes: Morphological and developmental features with keys to the orders, families, and genera. Eureka, CA: Mad River Press. 157 pp.
Ramsey, R. (1978/2003). Trial field key to the Lycoperdaceae & Geastraceae in the Pacific Northwest. Retrieved February 27, 2006 from the Pacific Northwest Key CouncilWeb site: http://www.svims.ca/council/Lycope.htm
Sims, K. P., Watling, R. & Jeffries, P. (1995). A revised key to the genus Scleroderma. Mycotaxon 56: 403-420.
Smith, A. H. (1951). Puffballs and their allies in Michigan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 131 p. This book can be found online here, at the University of Michigan Herbarium.
Smith, A. H., Smith, H. V. & Weber, N. S. (1981). How to know the non-gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown. 324 p.
Zeller, S. M. & Smith, A. H. (1964). The genus Calvatia in North America. Lloydia 27: 148-186.
Cite this page as:
Kuo, M. (2006, February). Puffballs. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/puffballs.html
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