Common puffball or Dune stinkhorn

The fruiting body is inverted pear-shaped or club-shaped, 2-6 cm tall, 1.5-4 cm wide at the top. The upper (fertile) part is a rounded head; the lower (sterile) part is a narrowed “stalk” 1-3 cm long. Color: young ones are white or cream; with age yellowish grey to brown. A telltale feature — the surface is covered in coarse spiny warts (1-2 mm) that gradually fall off, leaving a net-like trace.

At the egg stage — a white-cream sphere 4-6 cm across with a thick, slimy skin. At the mature stage — a bell-shaped cap 4-5 cm, covered in olive-brown slimy gleba (this is the spore layer). The gleba has a honeycomb structure and feels sticky.

Internal hymenophore (gleba). The young gleba is white, dense and uniform. With age it turns yellow, then green, and becomes a dark olive-grey powdery spore mass. At the top of a mature fruiting body an opening forms, through which the spores puff out when a raindrop hits (hence the Ukrainian name, “rain mushroom”). Spore print dark olive-brown.

The hymenophor is a slimy olive-brown gleba on the cap surface. The spores are carried not by wind but by flies attracted by the sharp smell — a typical dispersal mechanism for the stinkhorn family.

There is no separate stem — the fruiting body is all one piece. The lower sterile part is a “stalk-base” 1-3 cm tall, somewhat narrower than the top, white and scaly, passing into whitish rhizomorphs (mycelial cords) in the soil.

Stem 10-20 cm tall, 2-4 cm thick, cylindrical, white or cream, hollow inside. The surface is finely honeycombed and brittle. In a young "egg" the stem is not yet formed — it stretches out rapidly within 2-4 hours after the skin bursts.

The flesh of young ones is pure white, uniform, dense, with a delicate pleasant flavor. With age it turns yellow, then green, and becomes a spore mass. The test: cut it open: uniform white = good to eat; any other color = throw it out.

At the egg stage — white, firm, with a gelatinous greenish layer under the skin. When mature — spongy, brittle, white. Does not change color when cut.

Faint, pleasant mushroomy smell with no sharp notes. Taste mild and neutral — it takes on the flavors of the dish.

In the egg — faint, barely noticeable. When mature — a strong, unpleasant yeasty, carrion-like smell that attracts flies. The flesh of the egg tastes mild, reminiscent of radish.