Puffball

A puffball is a fungus whose rounded fruiting body produces spores internally and releases them as a cloud through an opening or rupture when mature.

Gleba: The spore-producing inner tissue of certain fungi, including puffballs and stinkhorns. Puffball spores develop within this interior tissue before dispersal.
Basidiocarp: The spore-producing fruiting body of a basidiomycete fungus. A puffball is a basidiocarp in the major puffball lineages.
Giant puffball: A very large puffball fungus, Calvatia gigantea, with a white interior when young. It is the most conspicuous example of the puffball growth form.
Stinkhorn: A fungus whose mature fruiting body exposes a foul-smelling, spore-bearing slime. Stinkhorns begin enclosed like puffballs but disperse spores in a different way.
Peridium: The outer wall surrounding the spore mass in fungi with enclosed fruiting bodies. This protective wall splits or opens as a puffball matures.
Basidiospore: A spore produced by a basidium, the characteristic reproductive cell of basidiomycete fungi. Puffballs release basidiospores formed inside their fruiting bodies.
Common puffball: A small, widespread puffball fungus, Lycoperdon perlatum, with a warty outer surface. Its mature fruiting body releases spores through a conspicuous apical pore.
Earthstar: A fungus whose outer fruiting-body layer splits into rays around a central spore sac. Earthstars share enclosed spore sacs with puffballs but open into a star-shaped form.
Ostiole: A small opening through which spores or other material can escape from an enclosed structure. Some puffballs release spores through a pore rather than a broad rupture.
Mycelium: The network of fungal filaments that grows through a substrate and absorbs nutrients. The visible puffball is only the reproductive structure of a larger mycelium.

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