The Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) is a puffball mushroom commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests worldwide usually in late summer and autumn. Most giant puffballs grow to be 10 to 70 cm in diameter, although occasionally some can reach diameters up to 150 cm and weights of 20 kg. The large white mushrooms are edible when young and some claim the meat tastes very similar to tofu when cooked. There are not any poisonous look-alikes, making it a safe mushroom for amateur hunters to identify and eat. The fruiting body will develop within the period of a few weeks and soon begin to decompose and rot, at which point it should not be consumed. Unlike most mushrooms, all the spores of the giant puffball are created inside the fruiting body; large specimens could easily contain a billion or more spores. Spores are yellowish, smooth and 3 to 5 micrometres in size.

The classification of this species has been revised in recent years, as the formerly recognised class Gasteromycetes, which included all puffballs, has been found to be polyphyletic. Some authors place the giant puffball and other members of genus Calvatia in order Agaricales. Also, the species has in the past been placed in two other genera, Lycoperdon and Langermannia.

External links

• The Giant Puffball
• Giant Puffball Photo and Write up

Basidiomycetes | Edible mushrooms

Pýchavka obrovská | Riesenbovist | Langermannia gigantea | Kukurdvelkis | Reuzenbovist | Порхавка гігантська