Giant puffball or Pestle 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.

Fruiting body skittle-shaped, 10-20 (up to 30) cm tall, 4-10 cm wide at the top. The upper (fertile) part is a round or egg-shaped head with a rounded tip; the lower (sterile) part is a cylindrical, elongated “stalk”. Color: young ones are white, later cream, then yellowish brown. The surface is smooth or finely warty at first, later cracking into coarser scales, and the top opens to expose the spore mass.

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.

The hymenophore is internal (gleba), as in all puffballs. The young gleba is white, dense and uniform. With age it turns yellow, then green, then becomes a dark olive-brown powdery mass of spores. Spore print dark 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.

Not a separate part — the fruiting body is one piece, skittle-shaped. The “stalk” is the lower sterile part of the same fruiting body, cylindrical, white, scaly in old ones. There is no ring.

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 in young ones is white, uniform and firm, with a delicate taste reminiscent of chicken breast. With age it turns yellow, then green, and becomes a spore mass. Check before cooking: if the cut shows uniform white — it's good; any yellowish or greenish tint — throw it out.

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.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell. The taste is mild and delicate.