A puffball mushroom is a type of fungus that features a ball-shaped fruit body that, when mature, bursts on contact or impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores into the surrounding area. Puffballs belong to the family of fungi called Lycoperdaceae, and they do not have an open cap with spore-bearing gills. Instead, spores are produced internally, in a spheroidal fruit body called a gasterothecium. The distinguishing feature of all puffballs is that they do not have a visible stalk or stem, while stalked puffballs do have a stalk that supports the gleba.

Puffballs grow anywhere that their spores have landed, so unlike mushrooms like chanterelles or hen of the woods where they come up exactly in the same spots, puffballs can move around a bit as theyre not bonding with a particular tree. Puffballs can be found in open areas such as fields, by roads and trails, and in grassy clearings in the forest. They provide an important service to the environment as decomposers of dead organic material such as leaves, wood, and feces.

Some puffball mushrooms are edible while the inside is still white and fleshy, and they are placed by wild food harvesters among the vaunted “Foolproof Four” of edible fungi, as they are easy to identify. However, it is important to correctly identify the mushroom and pick it at the right age. To know if it is at the right age, cut it open. It should have thick, hard, white flesh inside. Do not eat anything with a brown, black, purple, or yellow interior.