11 Gasteromycetes (Puffballs & their look-alikes)

                    a. True Puffballs: thin-skinned with spores emerging from a hole opening up in the center of the puffball; on the ground or on wood; immature forms can be confused with various species of Amanita, including the Destroying Angel;, but a cross-section will show the puffball to have an undifferentiated context, whereas a cross-section of an unopened  Amanita “egg” will show the outline of a mushroom cap, gills, and stem; summer and fall.

Gemmed puffball Lycoperdon perlatum	Lycoperdon perlatum cut in half

Pear-shaped puffball Lycoperdon pyriforme

An Amanita in the egg stage looks very similar until you cut it:

Destroying Angel egg Amanita virosa	egg, cut in half -- on triscuit -- you can see the Amanita outline  -- a "killer" (fatal) appetizer

                    b. Giant Puffballs: no central hole for spores to escape; instead these fungi flake apart and disintegrate; late summer and fall.

Giant puffball with Art Bailie Calvatia gigantea	another giant puffball, the Purple-spored puffball Calvatia cyathiformis

                    c. Earthballs (or False Puffballs):  thick-warty-skinned, usually yellowish brown; cross-section reveals an off-white (immature) to blackish (spore color) interior; on the ground, often under oaks; summer and fall.

Scleroderma

                    d. Earthstars: puffball-like with an outer skin that splits into distinct arm-like pieces, revealing the puffball-like interior; the whole sometimes resembling a lunar lander; on the ground; summer and fall.

Barometer earthstar Astraeus hygrometicus	Rounded earthstar Geastrum saccatum

                    e. Stalked Puffballs: the one included here has a jelly-like covering about its stalk and a bright red puffball head; fall.

Stalked puffball in aspic Calostoma cinnabarina

                    f. Bird’s Nest Fungi (or Splash Cups): very small, almost cup-fungus like mushrooms on wood or on the ground, with tiny egg-like spore sacs within the deep cup-like “nests”; spores are flung out by water drops or other disturbance; summer and fall.

White-egg bird's nest Crucibulum laeve	Splash cup Cyathus striatus

Elegant stinkhorn Mutinus elegans	Stinky squid stinkhorn Pseudocolus schellenbergiae

Netted stinkhorn Dictyophora duplicata