''Calvatia gigantea'', commonly known as the giant puffball, is a
puffball
Puffballs are a type of fungus featuring a ball-shaped fruit body that bursts on impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores when mature. Puffballs belong to the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including ''Calvatia'', ''Ca ...
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests usually in late summer and autumn. It is found in temperate areas throughout the world.
Description
Most giant puffballs grow to be , sometimes to be in diameter; although occasionally some can reach diameters up to and weights of . The inside of mature giant puffballs is greenish brown, whereas the interior of immature puffballs is white. The large white mushrooms are
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...
when young.
The fruiting body of a puffball mushroom will develop within the period of a few weeks and soon begin to decompose and rot, at which point it is dangerous to eat. Unlike most mushrooms, all the
spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
s of the giant puffball are created inside the fruiting body; large specimens can easily contain several trillion spores. Spores are yellowish, smooth, and 3–5 μm in size.
[
The classification of this species has been revised in recent years, as the formerly recognized ]class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
Gasteromycetes, which included all puffballs, has been found to be polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...
. Some authors place the giant puffball and other members of genus ''Calvatia
''Calvatia'' is a genus of puffball mushrooms that includes the spectacular giant puffball ''C. gigantea''. It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brought ...
'' in order Agaricales
The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gills) or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13,000 described species, alo ...
. Also, the species has in the past been placed in two other genera, ''Lycoperdon'' and ''Langermannia''. However, the current view is that the giant puffball is ''Calvatia''.
Conservation status
The giant puffball is widespread and common in the UK. It is protected in parts of Poland and is of conservation concern in Norway.[
]
Cooking
All true puffballs are considered edible when immature, but can cause digestive upset if the spores have begun to form, as indicated by the color of the flesh being not pure white (first yellow, then brown). Immature gilled species still contained within their universal veil can be look alikes for puffballs. To distinguish puffballs from poisonous fungi, they must be cut open; edible puffballs will have a solid white interior. Some similar mushrooms have the white interior (or yellowish) but also have the silhouette of a cap-type mushroom on the interior when cut open. These are young cap-type mushrooms and may be poisonous.
Medical uses
Puffballs are a known styptic
An antihemorrhagic (antihæmorrhagic) agent is a substance that promotes hemostasis (stops bleeding). It may also be known as a hemostatic (also spelled haemostatic) agent.
Antihemorrhagic agents used in medicine have various mechanisms of action: ...
and have long been used as wound dressing, either in powdered form or as slices 3 cm thick. The fungus was often harvested prior to battles for this purpose.
Similar fungi
Giant puffballs resemble the earthball (''Scleroderma citrinum''). The latter are distinguished by a much firmer, elastic fruiting body, and having an interior that becomes dark purplish-black with white reticulation early in development. ''Scleroderma citrinum'' is poisonous and may cause mild intoxication.
Images
Image:VesseGeante.jpg, Giant puffball.
Image:Puffball Mushrooms On Sale.jpg, Puffball mushrooms on sale at a market in England, showing slices uniform and white all the way through.
Image:Calvatia gigantea.jpg
File:Purchawka olbrzymia i widelec.jpg, Cut, with a fork for scale.
Image:Giant Puffball Lemoine Point.jpg, Giant puffballs growing in a deciduous forest
References
Further reading
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External links
Video footage of mature Giant Puffballs
VOLATILES OF THE GIANT PUFFBALL MUSHROOM (Calvatia gigantea)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q222449
Lycoperdaceae
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America
Edible fungi
Fungi found in fairy rings
Puffballs
Taxa named by August Batsch
Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon