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A giant puffball growing in a patch of grass. It's a football-shaped fungus with pockmarked, off-white skin

Giant puffball © Dr Malcolm Storey

Giant puffball

This football-sized fungus can be seen in autumn, sometimes growing on grass verges.

Scientific name

Calvatia gigantea

When to see

July to November

Species information

Statistics

Width: typically 10-80cm
Not threatened

About

The giant puffball is a large fungus, often around the size of a football. It grows on grass verges, field and woodland edges, and amongst rank vegetation. Giant puffballs are saprotrophic, which means they feed on dead organic matter - an important recycling service for decaying plants and other detritus. They usually grow in small clusters, but sometimes form 'fairy rings'. A single giant puffball can produce trillions of spores. They escape through tears in the leathery skin, dispersing on the wind.

How to identify

A very large, often roughly spherical white fungus, with thick leathery skin. The skin becomes browner as it ages. It tends to be around the size of a football, but can grow much larger.

Distribution

Widespread but localised.

Did you know?

There's a report from 1877 of a giant puffball that measured 1.63m long, 1.37m wide and 0.24m tall!