Meadow puffballLycoperdon pratense

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.

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 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.

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 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.