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Tuesday, July 9, 2013
One of my favorite summer memories is taking a walk in the woods stomping on a puffball mushrooms full of spores. Poof! Poof! Poof!
Puffballs come in many sizes, some as small as a marble and some as large as a basketball. The name "puffball" refers to three genera of fungi, Calvatia, Calbovista, and Lycoperdon.
Puffballs start out as white, round, ball-shaped mushrooms attached to the ground with little or no apparent stem. As the fungi matures, it turns brown and spores mature within a sac, unlike other mushrooms that have a cap with spores within gills on the underside of the cap.
Puffballs start out as white, round, ball-shaped mushrooms attached to the ground with little or no apparent stem. As the fungi matures, it turns brown and spores mature within a sac, unlike other mushrooms that have a cap with spores within gills on the underside of the cap.
When the puffball spores are ready to disperse a little hole usually develops on surface of the ball. The spores escape when hit by rain, animals or hmmm…by some “other” means.
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Nature up close
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