Giant, and I mean GIANT ball shaped fungus in my woods

15 years ago

In the woods at the back of my Winchester land I found a huge ball-shaped fungal fruiting body. It is a little less than two feet across and almost as high. It is brown with the top opened and a mass of what I assume are spores exposed out the top. Around the sides, where the shell has split, there are what look a little like the sepals at the base of a persimmon, or something vaguely like that. I did some Googling, but came up with nothing like this. Oh, there is a much smaller one not far away.

--Spruce

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Comments (12)

MissSherry
15 years ago
Wow! I've seen those big puff balls on the ground, I think it was, but never on a tree and never two feet across!
Too bad you don't do pictures, Spruce!
Sherry
Pamchesbay
15 years ago
Spruce & Sherry:

We had dozens of dark brown/black balls in the field this fall (sunny conditions). They were round and different sizes, a few were 18 inches or more across. Often, several were clustered together into a large mass. When I "popped" one, dark brown spores blew out.

They appeared after a storm/ category 1 hurricane that didn't bring much rain so I didn't think they were related to excess moisture. I could be wrong about that. I didn't get any photos either.
Pam
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pineresin
15 years ago
Presumably Calvatia gigantea. This is edible when still young and white, before it turns brown and releases the spores.

Resin
lucky_p
15 years ago
Ooh, Spruce, if it was, indeed, C.gigantea, you shoulda taken it home(if still solid and white through and through) to eat.
Sliced & sauteed in butter(or bacon grease) and sprinkled with a little fresh-ground black pepper and Italian seasonings, they are dee-lish!

Man, I wish I could find some like those in the photos at the site linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fun with Calvatia!
Pamchesbay
15 years ago
Hi Resin & Lucky: I can't speak for Spruce or Sherry, but my big brown balls bore no resemblance to C. gigantea. Since there were scores of them in a sunny open field, I'm sure I would have noticed them when they were big white balls.

Any other ideas?
MissSherry
15 years ago
Mine were reddish brown, and when they went poof, powdery, reddish brown stuff went everywhere, Pam - it never occurred to me to eat it!
Sherry
lucky_p
15 years ago
pam & sherry,
You've described mature puffballs. Despite your alleged powers of observation (LOL), you just missed noticing them when they were white (and edible).
I will admit, though, that they pop up very rapidly, and the 'window of opportunity' for harvest is pretty small - probably just a couple of days before they begin maturing into a thin-skinned bag of red/brown/purple spores that 'puff' out in a cloud when you step on them.
Keep an eye out for them next year - they're really tasty - provided you pick them at the proper stage!
Pamchesbay
15 years ago
lucky: I'm trying to keep an open mind but don't think I could eat one of those things. I love mushrooms but other issues play out: fear of the unknown and stories about people eating mushrooms that proved fatal.

To improve my powers of observation, do they pop up at a particular time of year? The ones in my field appeared in September. I assume they aren't related to weather conditions (i.e., above average moisture in the soil)?
MissSherry
15 years ago
Lucky, my powers of observation are so poor, I probably wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't stepped on some! :)
Sherry
spruceman
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, maybe it is a Calvatia--it is somewhat larger than those in the "fun with" site, but the size is close enough, and the overall shape is spot-on. Mine is well past the stage when it was white. It is all a deep brown, the whole top is open and the inside looks like rotten foam rubber--I didn't touch it. It is not like a puffball with the opening at the top that ejects spores when touched. The whole top and down the sides is one brown mass. But when I look closely, I can see how the shell has split leaving the sepal like sections of the shell at the bottom. These don't come up the sides very far.

Yes, darn it, I need to get a camera!

--Spruce
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
you know..

my boot would taste good.. by the time i did this to it:

Sliced & sauteed in butter(or bacon grease) and sprinkled with a little fresh-ground black pepper and Italian seasonings, they are dee-lish!

lol ....

no pic huh??

ken
wisconsitom
15 years ago
I've eaten giant puffball that has been saute'ed and all that. For me, it was edible and nothing more. It soaked up so much of the butter it was fried in that it just became a heavy slab. But.....to each his/her own. Now, those Shiitakes I used to grow...those were tasty!

+oM

Giant, and I mean GIANT ball shaped fungus in my woods

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Giant, and I mean GIANT ball shaped fungus in my woods

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