Puffballs ,The Devil's Snuffbox (Lycoperdon sp)

We found these along the old rail line parallel to Towson Run, near the ruins of the old mill. The opening in the top indicates maturity.  Squeezing the sides of each mushroom elicits a smoke out the opening, actually fungus spores. Remember this from childhood?

V. sliced one in half to show the mottled interior color.  They are edible only when younger and all white.  They may not have the characteristic opening at that stage and have to be distinguished from the poisonous Amanita sp.  This is probably beyond the usual warnings since Amanita is deadly. Leave it to the experts.

Not surprisingly, given the maturity and the spores, these were absorbed or gone one week later,unless a more adventurous forager harvested them. This was the common season for fruiting puffballs, August to November.

For latin scholars, another common name for this mushroom is "wolf-fart".  "Lyco" is wolf in Greek and "perdon" is Greek for "to break wind."  Puffball is a term used for many large round mushrooms so again the scientific name is helpful.  There have been giant puffballs around, Calvatia sp , but also very transient.