Monday, May 18, 2009

Giant Puff Balls

Giant Puff Balls

I've only seen pictures of these in books . . . . until the recent rains. Then there were THREE of them in my yard, with a wonderfully rich, earthy smell. A type of gasteromycetes, the largest one measures 5 x 6" and was still growing larger with each new day. Until Bill mowed yesterday.

Wonder just how big they might have got?

5 comments:

  1. Oh, early for puffballs, around here! Did you try slicing them vertically to see if they had any sign of a stem, gills, etc.? At least the edible puffballs I watch for are usually late summer and fall fungi...

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  2. Lovely!!! Did it go *pufffffffff* when he mowed over them?

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  3. There was just a hint of a stem underneath but I didn't think to slice them open. The big one was HEAVY though! I'd never seen them around here before.

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  4. Great studies! I like your sketch of three of them - it gives me a real feeling of being there. Those things are really big, ours are usually 1 or 2 inches in diameter.

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