Spiny Puffball

A small, ground-dwelling puffball called the spiny puffball, Lycoperdon echinatum. These fungi decompose leaf litter and other detritus on the forest floor. They can be eaten if the interior is pure white when cut in half. The genus name is "lyco-" meaning "wolf" and "-perdon" meaning "to break wind", so it is the wolf fart mushroom, apparently referring to the mature fruiting bodies that puff their spore powder out of a tiny hole that develops in the top of the mushroom when disturbed.

This specimen was found on the Blue Square Trail at the Long Ridge Conservation Area, Sullivan, Missouri. This image is part of the article Trailheads: Portals to the Fungal Dimension.