Stump puffball or Umber-brown puffball

Fruit body pear-shaped or inverted-egg-shaped, 2-5 cm tall, 1.5-3.5 cm wide at the top. The upper (fertile) part is a rounded head; the lower (sterile) part is a narrowed “stem” 1-2 cm long. Color: young ones are white, cream, turning yellowish-brown to dark brown with age. The surface is covered with small warts and scales that rub off over time. In mature specimens the top dies back, exposing the olive spore mass.

The fruiting body (a puffball has no cap in the usual sense — the whole fruiting body comes "in one package") is pear-shaped or round with a narrowed base, 2-5 cm across and 3-6 cm tall. The surface is densely covered with short dark brown or umber spines that rub off with age, leaving a net-like pattern of paler patches. In a young mushroom the color is almost blackish-brown, in a mature one chestnut-brown to umber.

The hymenophore is internal (gleba). The young gleba is white, firm and uniform. With age it turns yellow, then green, and becomes a dark olive powdery spore mass. Spore print dark olive-brown.

The spore-bearing tissue is enclosed inside the fruiting body (this is a gasteromycete — the spores ripen inside). At first the flesh is whitish-gray, soft, with the spongy look typical of the genus. With age it turns purple-brown, and then becomes a dark olive or chocolate-brown powdery mass of spores. The spores escape through a small pore that opens at the top of the fruiting body once it is mature.

There is no separate stem — the fruit body is all one piece. The lower sterile part is a “stem” 1-2 cm tall, white and scaly, passing into whitish rhizomorphs (mycelial cords) that anchor the mushroom to the wood.

The pseudostem (false stem) is well defined — a cone-shaped narrowing downward to 1-2 cm thick, with no clear boundary between the "cap" and the "stem". Flesh of the stem stays sterile (no spores), spongy, and shrinks with age.

flesh in young ones is white, uniform, soft, with a delicate flavor. 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 other color — throw it away.

In a young mushroom it is whitish-gray, soft, spongy. It quickly takes on a purple-brown tint — this is the fundamental difference from the white-fleshed edible puffballs. The smell is faint and neutral.

Faint, pleasant mushroomy smell. Mild taste with a subtle nutty note.

Faint, neutral, barely noticeable. No distinctive aromas. Don't taste it — the mushroom is inedible.