Meadow puffball or Brown puffball

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.

The fruiting body is a round or slightly flattened "ball" 3–6 cm across, with no stem. The outer surface of a young mushroom is smooth, white or cream. In mature ones it flakes off in small scales, exposing the dark inner wall. Old ones are entirely dark purple-brown or almost black.

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.

The spore-bearing layer is internal — it fills the whole inside of the fruiting body. In young ones it is a solid, dense white tissue (the gleba). In mature ones it turns into a powdery dark spore mass. The spores are olive-brown, with thin little tails.

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.

There is no stem. The fruiting body is attached to the soil by a short mycelial cord that often breaks — and mature mushrooms can then roll about in the wind, scattering spores through an opening at the top.

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.

The gleba (inner tissue) is white, springy and delicately textured in young specimens. As it ripens it takes on a yellowish-gray tint — at this stage the mushroom is no longer edible. In old ones it turns into a dry dark powder (the spore mass).

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.

The smell is faint, barely mushroomy; in young ones it recalls fresh egg-white batter. The taste is mild and neutral, slightly nutty in some specimens.