Common Puffball

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today, it’s one of the most common and widespread species in North America: the Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum).

‘Puffball’ is a term used to describe any round (rather than mushroom-shaped) fungus that releases a smoke-like puff of spores when mature. More than a dozen different species have been recorded on PEI, from the smooth-skinned Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) to these smaller and spiker Common Puffballs.

Common Puffballs grow atop short stalks and are covered in tiny, pyramid-shaped spines that are firm to the touch (main photo). If you remove a few of those spines with your finger, you’ll see they leave a visible scar on the mushroom. The spines’ shape, firmness, and remnant scars help differentiate Common Puffball from some of the related species.

Like most Puffballs, this species is edible when young and solid white inside (inset photo). Once spores start to develop and the flesh begins to change colour, the mushrooms are past their prime and no longer suitable for the kitchen. If foraging Puffballs, do be sure there’s no ghostly outline of a cap-and-gill mushroom when you cut them open; some of our toxic Amanita species start out as Puffball-like buttons (albeit without the stalks of Common Puffballs).

Puffing a Common Puffball on PEI.

When Common Puffball’s spores are mature, a hole (called an ‘ostiole’) opens in the top of each one and pressure from wind, rain, or touch puffs out the spores (video). Like many children, I enjoyed stomping Puffballs to make smoky, spore explosions! It’s that puff that inspired both the Genus name – Lycoperdon – and the lovely French name: vesse-de-loup; both mean Wolf’s fart.

Common Puffballs can be found just about anywhere: forests, fields, road- and trailside, or urban and suburban areas. These are primarily saprobes (decomposers that feed on decaying organic matter) and so provide valuable waste-removal and recycling services. But like many fungi, Common Puffballs refuse to be confined to simple boxes, and this species has been found to be mycorrhizal as well, forming mutually-beneficial relationships with trees.

I usually see Common Puffballs growing directly from the ground as shown here. These mushrooms can bioaccumulate contaminants including heavy metals, so it’s best to collect them from clean sites if you’re planning to eat them. It’s also wise to always cook wild fungi and eat any new-to-you food in moderation the first time you try it.

Fall is peak season for Common Puffballs, and the recent rain has encouraged them to appear.  Whether you appreciate these fungi for food, ecological services, or child-like entertainment, they are useful parts of PEI Untamed!