4o6 



The Book of Woodcraft 





htqh Olit 



Puffballs. 



Puffballs {Ly- 

 coperdaceae). 

 The next im- 

 portant and 

 safe group are 

 the Puffballs be- 

 fore they begin to 

 puff. All our 

 puffballs when 

 young and solid 

 white inside are 

 good, wholesome 

 food. Some of 

 them, like the 

 Brain Puffhall or the Giant Puffhall, are occasionally a foot 

 in diameter, and yield flesh enough to feed a dozen persons. 

 They are well known to all who live in the country, their 

 smooth, rounded exterior without special features, except 

 the roots, and their soHd white interior are easily remem- 

 bered. But one must take great care in gathering the 

 very small ones as the poisonous toadstools in the button 

 stage resemble small puffballs externally. However, a sec- 

 tion shows the cap, stem, etc., of the former, whereas puff- 

 balls are soHd without any obvious inner structure. 

 The principal kinds are these: 



Pear Puffball ( Lycoperdon pyriforme ) . Usually 

 found in masses on the ground or on old timber. It is 

 pinkish brown, and rarely over one inch in diameter. 



Brain Puffball {Calvatia craniiformis) . On the ground 

 in woods. Pale grayish often with a reddish tinge, some- 

 times wrinkled on top, sometimes smooth. Commonly six 

 to eight inches high. 



Giant Puffball {Calvatia gigantea). Eight to twenty 

 inches in diameter. Mcllvaiae found one weighing nine 



