Giant Puffball

Giant Puffball Calvatia gigantea (Batsch) Lloyd syn. Langermannia gigantea (Batsch) Rostk. (illustrated (c) 20% life size) Fruit body 7–80cm across, subglobose; whitish; leathery outer wall breaking away to expose the spore mass; attached to the substrate by a root-like mycelial cord which breaks, leaving the body free to roll around and scatter the spores. Gleba powdery and olivaceous-brown at maturity; sterile base rudimentary or absent. Spores 3.5–5.5¼ in diameter, globose, finely warted; tawny brown. Habitat in gardens, pasture, and woods; summer to autumn. Common. Edible when still white and firm, good.