Giant puffball or Meadow puffball

Fruit body globular or slightly flattened, with no distinction between cap and stem — from the outside it looks like a big white ball or a loaf of bread. Surface smooth, leathery, white at first, then yellowing and browning; in mature ones it cracks and peels.

There is no true cap. The fruiting body is flattened-globose or shaped like an upside-down pear, 2 to 4 centimeters tall and wide, with a noticeably narrowed sterile base acting as a false stem. The surface is white or cream, covered with tiny mealy scales and spines that rub off with age, leaving a smoother brown skin. At maturity an opening forms at the top, through which the spores pour out.

Internal hymenophore: the spores form inside the fruit body (gasteromycete development). In young mushrooms the firm gleba — the flesh — is pure white and uniform throughout. As it matures, it turns into a yellow-green mass of spores — a powder that disperses through cracks in the skin.

There is no hymenophore in the usual sense. The spores ripen inside the closed fruiting body (the gleba). In young mushrooms the inner mass is pure white and firm; as it matures it turns yellow, then brown, and becomes a powdery olive-brown spore mass. Inside there is a thin membrane separating the spore-bearing part from the sterile base. The spore print is olive-brown.

There is no stem in the classic sense. The fruit body is attached to the soil by thin white mycelial cords. The lower part may be slightly narrowed, forming a pseudostem.

There is no true stem; the lower part of the fruiting body narrows into a short sterile false stem that remains even after the spores have dispersed. It is spongy, whitish, and turns brown with age. This narrowed base is what makes the mushroom look like a spinning top or a pear turned upside down, narrow end down.

Flesh (gleba) evenly white when young, firm, juicy, with no cavities. Taste delicate, slightly nutty. Once yellowness or an ammonia smell appears, eating it is out of the question — such a mushroom is already toxic.

The flesh (gleba) of young mushrooms is pure white, uniform and springy, like firm cheese, with no hint of developing gills. Only in this state is the mushroom edible. When cut, it must be evenly white; the slightest yellowing or browning means the mushroom has matured and is no longer edible. Young flesh tastes mild and pleasant.

A young mushroom smells pleasant, unobtrusive, slightly mealy. Mature and overripe specimens have a sharp, spicy, ammonia smell — a signal that the mushroom is no longer edible.

The smell is faint, pleasant, mushroomy, with no sharp notes. The aroma is not a defining feature; the mushroom is recognized by its white, pear-shaped fruiting body with tiny spines, its growth in meadows and the uniformly white flesh inside when young.