Common puffball or Lycoperdon mammiforme

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.

Fruiting body pear-shaped to egg-shaped, 3-6 cm across and 4-8 cm tall, with a distinct narrowed stem-like base. The upper part is rounded, with a characteristic small raised nipple on top (where the spore-release pore will form). The young mushroom is white to cream, densely covered with fine white or cream scales, which rub off with age and leave a lacy pattern on the surface. The mature mushroom is a light grayish brown.

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 hymenophore is enclosed inside the fruiting body (a gasteromycete — the spores ripen inside). In young mushrooms the flesh is pure white, soft and uniform. With age it becomes pale cream, then yellowish, then olive green and turns into a dark olive powdery spore mass. The spores escape through the apical pore on the nipple, which opens at maturity.

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.

The pseudostem (false stem) is well developed — a cone-shaped narrowing toward the base, 1.5-3 cm thick, with no clear border with the "cap". The flesh of the stem stays sterile (spore-free) and spongy, and shrinks with age.

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.

In young mushrooms — pure white, soft, spongy, with no yellowish or greenish tints. It does not change color quickly when cut. As it matures it gradually turns yellow, then green, and becomes a powdery spore mass.

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

Faint, pleasant and mushroomy in young specimens, neutral. In mature ones — no pronounced smell. Mature mushrooms are not tasted.