Fungi encyclopedia
A reference for the fungi you actually find
Each entry describes one species the way you meet it in the field — the cap and its surface, what sits underneath, the stipe and its base, the spore print colour, the substrate it fruits from, and the species most often confused with it.
Closed balls that release spore dust
Collared Earthstar
Puffballs
The largest common earthstar, whose thick outer wall splits into pointed rays and cracks around the central ball to leave a distinctive collar or saucer. The spore sac releases dust through a single fringed apical pore.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Common Earthball
Puffballs
A hard, squat, dirty-yellow ball with a thick rind broken into coarse polygonal warts, sitting half-buried on acid woodland soil. Cut vertically it shows a firm marbled purple-black interior even when young.
Spore print · Purple-black to blackish brown (spore mass)
Gem-studded Puffball
Puffballs
A small white to buff puffball shaped like an inverted pear, covered in detachable cone-shaped spines that leave a net-like pattern of scars when they fall. It releases spores through a neat apical pore in the top of the head.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spore mass)
Giant Puffball
Puffballs
An unmistakable white sphere that can reach the size of a football or larger, appearing in grassland and hedgerows. It has no stipe, no gills and no cap, and its interior ripens from firm white to a powdery olive-brown spore mass.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spore mass)
Pear-shaped Puffball
Puffballs
A small, smooth, pear-shaped puffball that fruits in crowded troops directly on rotting stumps and logs, joined at the base by conspicuous white mycelial cords. It is the only common puffball reliably found on wood.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spore mass)
Arched Earthstar
Puffballs
A tall earthstar that stands on four arched, leg-like rays with their tips anchored in a cup of mycelium, holding the stalked spore sac well clear of the ground.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Barometer Earthstar
Puffballs
A tough star-shaped gasteroid fungus whose thick rays open in damp weather and curl shut again as they dry. Despite the name it is not a true earthstar, sitting instead among the bolete relatives.
Spore print · Dark brown
Beaked Earthstar
Puffballs
An elegant earthstar with the longest stalk in the genus and a slender, conspicuously furrowed beak crowning its grey, finely granular spore sac.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Brown Puffball
Puffballs
A round grassland puffball whose white outer skin peels away to reveal a shining purple-black inner ball. Larger than the Grey Puffball and equally prone to breaking loose and rolling.
Spore print · Purple-brown
Common Puffball
Puffballs
A pear- to club-shaped white puffball studded with conical spines that fall away to leave a pockmarked pattern, releasing spores through a pore at the top. It is one of the most frequently encountered woodland puffballs.
Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass
Crowned Earthstar
Puffballs
A medium-large earthstar with a dark grey, often bloomed spore sac raised on a short stalk above strongly recurved rays, and a silky fibrous mouth with no grooves.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Dead Man's Foot
Puffballs
A large, club- or foot-shaped fungus whose interior is packed with pea-sized chambers set in dark jelly, ripening from the top down into rusty brown dust. It grows on the poorest, most compacted ground.
Spore print · Cinnamon to rusty brown (spore mass)
Desert Shaggy Mane
Puffballs
A tall desert fungus with a woody stalk carrying an elongate, shaggy white capsule that splits to release blackish-brown powder. It persists for months in dry climates long after fruiting.
Spore print · Blackish brown
Fringed Earthstar
Puffballs
A small, pale, stalkless earthstar whose fibrous mouth is ragged and fringed but never enclosed in a sharply outlined court. One of the commonest earthstars of woodland litter.
Spore print · Brown (spore mass)
Grey Puffball
Puffballs
A small round grassland puffball whose white papery outer skin flakes away to expose a smooth lead-grey inner ball. It detaches from the soil and rolls about, scattering spores from a torn apical mouth.
Spore print · Purplish-brown
Leathery Puffball
Puffballs
A large ball with an unusually thick, corky-leathery rind that cracks and splits into stiff star-like lobes as it opens. Found on nutrient-rich, disturbed soil in dry open country.
Spore print · Purple-brown
Leopard Earthball
Puffballs
A small ochre earthball whose surface is patterned with tiny dark scales, each ringed by a pale halo like leopard spots. It grows on damp woodland soil and has a thin tough rind over a purple-black interior.
Spore print · Purple-black to blackish brown
Meadow Puffball
Puffballs
A small flat-topped white puffball of short turf, distinguished by a membranous internal diaphragm that separates the spore mass from the sterile base. Mature bodies open by a wide ragged mouth.
Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass
Mosaic Puffball
Puffballs
A stout grassland puffball whose white surface cracks into a mosaic of polygonal scales, later collapsing to leave a persistent bowl-shaped base. It is typical of upland pasture, heath and dunes.
Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass
Pepperpot Earthstar
Puffballs
The only earthstar with a spore sac perforated by many mouths and propped on a cluster of little columns, like a pepper pot on legs. A scarce, unmistakable species of dry sandy ground.
Spore print · Brown
Pestle Puffball
Puffballs
A tall club- or pestle-shaped puffball with a rounded fertile head raised on a long thick sterile stalk. The head wall breaks away completely at maturity, leaving the stalk standing in the litter.
Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass
Potato Earthball
Puffballs
A pale, almost smooth earthball that looks like a small buried potato, with a thin rind that cracks into fine scurfy patches. The interior ripens from white to a purple-brown dust.
Spore print · Purple-brown to blackish (spore mass)
Purple-spored Puffball
Puffballs
A large grassland puffball whose mature spore mass turns a distinctive purple-brown and whose sterile base persists through winter as a vase-shaped cup. The skin cracks into polygonal patches as it expands.
Spore print · Purple to purple-brown spore mass
Rayed Earthstar
Puffballs
A small, neat earthstar that stands on exactly four arched rays rising from a pale mycelial cup, with a stalked grey sac whose mouth sits in a clearly outlined pale court.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Rosy Earthstar
Puffballs
One of the larger earthstars, with thick fleshy rays that flush pinkish-red on their inner surface when fresh and a stalkless buff spore sac with a silky, ungrooved mouth.
Spore print · Brown (spore mass)
Rounded Earthstar
Puffballs
A small earthstar whose stalkless spore sac sits in a saucer of recurved rays, its fibrous mouth ringed by a distinct circular depressed zone. One of the most widespread earthstars worldwide.
Spore print · Brown (spore mass)
Sandy Stiltball
Puffballs
A striking fungus with a tall, woody, shaggily scaled stalk rising from a buried sac-like volva and topped by a flattened disc of rusty-brown spore powder. It grows on dry, sandy, nutrient-poor soil.
Spore print · Rusty brown
Scaly Earthball
Puffballs
A tan to ochre earthball whose thin, finely scaly skin sits on an unusually long, furrowed rooting stalk. The interior ripens from white to a dusty blackish-brown spore mass.
Spore print · Blackish brown (spore mass)
Sculpted Puffball
Puffballs
A firm white ball of western mountain conifer forests, covered in low pyramidal felty warts each marked by a darker central point. The interior is white and homogeneous before turning to olive-brown powder.
Spore print · Olive-brown
Skull-shaped Puffball
Puffballs
A large, smooth, pale tan puffball shaped like an inverted skull, with a strongly wrinkled tapering base and an olive-brown mature spore mass. The upper wall flakes away in papery sheets.
Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass
Spiny Puffball
Puffballs
A small round puffball densely armed with long dark brown spines that converge in tufts, leaving a net-like pattern where they fall. It is typically found on rich humus beneath beech.
Spore print · Purple-brown spore mass
Stalked Puffball-in-Aspic
Puffballs
A small, brilliant red spore ball with star-shaped lips, sheathed in clear jelly and raised on a stalk of tangled gelatinous cords. It grows on bare mossy clay banks in oak-rich hardwood forest.
Spore print · Pale yellowish to whitish
Star Earthball
Puffballs
A large, hard earthball that develops underground and then bursts upward, tearing its thick rind into stiff pale rays like a clenched hand opening. The exposed spore mass inside is dark brown.
Spore print · Dark brown to blackish (spore mass)
Striated Earthstar
Puffballs
An earthstar recognised by the flaring collar or skirt that spreads beneath its grey spore sac, combined with a sharply grooved, beak-like mouth on a short stalk.
Spore print · Dark brown (spore mass)
Tumbling Puffball
Puffballs
A smooth round puffball that sheds its white outer skin to reveal a bronze to purplish-grey shell, hanging from a single tough cord until it breaks free and rolls. Common in open woods and pasture across North America.
Spore print · Olive-brown to dark brown
Umber-brown Puffball
Puffballs
A small pear-shaped puffball of mossy conifer woodland, clothed in slender dark brown spines and opening by a neat apical pore. The interior matures from white to umber-brown powder.
Spore print · Umber to olive-brown
Western Giant Puffball
Puffballs
A very large white puffball of dry western rangeland, its surface broken into a mosaic of flattened polygonal warts. The interior is uniformly white when young and turns to olive-brown powder with age.
Spore print · Olive-brown
Winter Stalkball
Puffballs
A miniature stalked puffball with a pea-sized spore sac raised on a slender woody stalk, opening by a small tubular mouth ringed with darker colour. It grows in mossy sand and old mortared walls, mainly in winter.
Spore print · Rusty brown