Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CLXXX · Topic 27: Mushrooms, molds and bacteria
180. Puffballs
Goal: Your child can explain that the puffball's "smoke" is spores and can show how an earth-star opens and closes.
You'll need
- A puffball or earth-star, collected by an adult with gloves
- White paper
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- Disposable gloves
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
The lesson has a leading thought, a short method, and seven observations on where puffballs grow, their size, their "smoke" of spores, the giant puffball and the earth-star.
The lesson, step by step
Safety first
Safety first: we never eat a wild mushroom or any other wild fungus, not even a taste, and we never put fingers in our mouths after touching one. Some deadly kinds look plain and harmless, and even experts are fooled. Wear gloves or wash hands well with soap afterward, and keep specimens away from little children and pets.
Two more puffball rules. A young deadly mushroom still in its "egg" can look just like a small white puffball from the outside. And don't breathe in the "smoke": puff it outdoors, at arm's length, away from faces. The book asks about frying giant puffballs; we skip that question.
When and where
Late summer and fall, on lawns, pastures, roadsides and rotting logs. White puffballs are young; brown ones that puff are ripe.
The leading thought
The puffballs are the fruiting organs, and "smoke" which issues from them is largely made up of spores, which are carried off by the wind and sown and planted.
Look closely
Where did you find the puffball? On what was it growing? Were there many growing in company?
What is the size and shape of the puffball? Is its surface smooth or warty?
Look where it stood with the lens for the matted fungus threads.
The smoke
Outdoors, at arm's length, tap a ripe puffball over white paper.
Does the smoke come out through the broken covering of the puffball, or are there one or more special openings to allow it to escape?
What do you think this dust is? Of what use is it to the puffball?
The earth-star trick
If you find an earth-star, a puffball sitting in a star-shaped saucer, try this:
Let this star saucer become very dry; how does it act?
Wet it; and how does it behave then?
Earth-stars can be kept dry for a long time and wetted again and again.
Nature notebook
Draw the puffball whole and, if you found one, the earth-star dry and wet. Write how many spores you think one puffball holds: a lot or a few? Wash hands when done.
Answers to the book's problems
The smoke is spores, which the wind carries to new places. Many puffballs have a hole at the top; raindrops striking the skin puff the spores out. A dry earth-star curls its rays closed over the ball; wet, it spreads them flat and lifts the ball up.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.