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@finephilly and @Baz - we thought they were Earthballs - the inside was charcoal black.
@vmgscot that could very well be another name for them, a lot of fungi have multiple local names, ive always known them as common puffballs. The dark black in the centre is the spores that eventually mature to a dry dust consistency before eventually exploding out, towards the end of the season you see loads on the forest floor that look as though they have had something burst out from the inside.
Possibly @Bazz but...
"Common Earthball which appears to be responsible for the second most mushroom poisonings each year in the UK. This is possibly due to confusion with Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) or even Truffles (Tuber spp.)"
https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/common-earth-ball/
As kids, stamping on ripe puffballs was a great game. Especially as we were convinced the spores were deadly poisonous and we had to run away fast!
I stand corrected 😀 vmgscot
earthballs- look like small puffballs, btu often more brown and/or scaly.
Break them open and theya re black inside. Real puffballs are white all the way through, turning brown when they get too old.
A good place to start is to know all the poisonous ones before you pick any,and leave them if youre not sure.
Some people react differently so just eat a little the first time,,and others may make you sick if youre drinking
Yea I thought the outside was too smooth for a truffle and AFAIK they will only sprout in chalky/stony ground.
It'd be great to find some but realistically I think you need a trained dog as they're impossible to spot.
Seen a few earthballs around so thanks for identifying those...
Are common puffballs edible? I though it was only the giant ones.
Yes. according to my book. the spiky ones are edible...
Our firewood supplier reckons lots of berries is nature’s way of signalling a hard winter. We’ll see
Because plants can tell the future? As opposed to fruit to the conditions of the summer.
Where a particular weather pattern follows another.
And a couple of shots of a wee mushroom at Hawthorne dene woods when I was away with work.
At the cemetery, Annan. The fungi have gone mad again.
I found a Fly agaric in our garden, the first one ever.