(Calvatia gigantea)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy
Conservation Status |
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IUCN Red List | not listed |
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NatureServe | not listed |
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Minnesota | not listed |
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Description |
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Giant Puffball is the largest of the puffball species, reaching up to 20″ or more across. No other puffballs in Minnesota exceed 4″ in diameter at maturity. It is one of the “Foolproof Four”, the four most easily identified mushrooms. It is edible when young and solid inside. |
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Similar Species |
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Rich soil. Fields, woods, gardens. | ||
Habitat and Hosts |
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Ecology |
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Season |
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Early spring to fall |
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Distribution |
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Sources |
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8/25/2023 | ||||
Occurrence |
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Widespread and common |
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Taxonomy |
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Kingdom | Fungi (fungi) | ||
Subkingdom | Dikarya | ||
Phylum | Basidiomycota (club fungi) | ||
Subphylum | Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms) | ||
Class | Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies) | ||
Subclass | Agaricomycetidae | ||
Order |
Agaricales (common gilled mushrooms and allies) | ||
Suborder |
Suborder Agaricineae | ||
Family |
Lycoperdaceae (puffballs) | ||
Genus |
Calvatia | ||
Order Family |
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Synonyms |
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Langermannia gigantea |
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Common Names |
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Giant Puffball |
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Visitor Photos |
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Share your photo of this fungus. |
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Farmdogs5 |
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Christina Fortier |
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As big as a 4 year old |
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Sandy Jacoby |
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Margot Avey |
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Heidi Voss |
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Molly Hastings |
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Simone |
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Found three puffballs, one quite large in size, while mountain biking in the woods. |
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Nicholas O |
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Kelsey Spalding |
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Found by a creek in Carver County! |
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Emily Miller |
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Found with our daycare kids on a nature walk! |
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Tanner |
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found in outskirts of wooded area. |
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Charles Widner |
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Wayne Perala |
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Eric Pagnano |
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Found September 29, 2015 |
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Mary Jo Blanchard |
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In the woods. |
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St. Croix Valley Puff Ball |
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This particular puff ball mushroom was the size of a soccer ball! |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Slideshows |
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Giant Puffball Mushroom (Calvatia gigantea) Andree Reno Sanborn |
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About
with cooking directions |
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Visitor Videos |
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Share your video of this fungus. |
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This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach a video, a YouTube link, or a cloud storage link. |
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Other Videos |
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Edible Fungi: Giant Puffball Blanche Cybele Derby |
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About
Published on Oct 19, 2012 The Giant Puffball ("Calvatia gigantea") & it's smaller relatives are good mushrooms for beginners to try as they have no gills and are white inside. Their taste is rather bland so they take on the flavors of whatever they're cooked with. DON"T EAT ANY MUSHROOM UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE OF ITS IDENTITY! Thanks to "burtontube" who pointed out to me that I should have said that puffball powder is a COAGULANT not an anticoagulant.I stand corrected. |
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Giant Puffball Mushroom Size of a Beach Ball LivingHistorySchool |
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About
Uploaded on Jan 5, 2010 Giant puffball mushroom found in Oregon (Calvatia gigantica) This is edible when it is white. Used for making ink in Tibet. This edible fungus is the size of a beach ball. |
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Fall mushroom hunting giant puffball mushroom/Calvatia gigantea/how to find wild mushrooms Earthwalker40 . |
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About
Published on Sep 13, 2012 Please comment, share, like and subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/user/Earthwalker40 then check out http://www.blogger.com/profile/16589694922742883622 I found this wild giant puffball mushroom/Calvatia gigantea while fall wild mushroom hunting in a hardwood forest in Ohio on 9/12/12. How to find. http://www.blogger.com/profile/16589694922742883622 |
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Wild Edible and Medicinal Plant Series- Puffball Mushroom 1 Sigma 3 Survival School |
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About
Published on Sep 6, 2012 This video describes the puffball mushroom and the dangers associated with the poisonous look alikes. We also cover one method for preparing a dish made from the mushrooms. This is video one of an ongoing series on wild plants. Help support us by subscribing! http://www.survivalschool.us |
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[NEWS] Giant Mushrooms Larger Than Basketballs Sprout up in Family's Backyard FreedomNews |
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About
Published on Oct 10, 2013 Giant Mushrooms Larger Than Basketballs Sprout up in Family's Backyard It was around the time Ed and Amy Delaney were celebrating an anniversary that Mr Delaney found a giant mushroom in their backyard. So instead of the traditional bouquet of flowers, he decided to surprise his wife with the fungus. Wife Amy came downstairs and was taken aback by the mushroom the size of two basketballs. 'I walked in and his arms were literally filled with this huge, disgusting white mass,' Mrs Delaney told WILX. But that's not all. Mrs Delaney found an even bigger mushroom in their yard a few days later. In total, the family spotted four giant mushrooms in their backyard. An expert at Michigan State University identified the mushrooms as Calvatia Gigantea, commonly known as giant puffball mushrooms. Jonathan Walton an MSU professor of plant biology, says he's never seen a specimen this big. Unfortunately for the Delaneys, the mushrooms aren't worth anything and Professor Walton doesn't advise eating them. Giant puffball mushrooms look like giant rounds of fresh mozzarella, but they grow to about a foot in diameter. Some can grow as large as five feet in diameter and weigh as much as 44 pounds. When the Delaney's daughter Madison Gomez had two of her friends over Friday, she told them about the mushrooms but they wouldn't believe her. 'I guess they didn't believe me, so I showed them and I guess they had second thoughts,' she said. |
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Visitor Sightings |
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Report a sighting of this fungus. |
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This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Be sure to include a location. |
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Farmdogs5 8/25/2023 |
Location: Douglas County |
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Christina Fortier 8/25/2023 |
Location: Dakota County As big as a 4 year old |
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Margot Avey 9/4/2022 |
Location: Westwood Hills Nature Center in St Louis Park, MN 55416 |
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Apricity Apricity Fall 2021 |
Location: Martin County, Fairmont, MN |
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Heidi Voss 9/6/2021 |
Location: My yard in Bloomington, MN |
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Molly Hastings 9/4/2021 |
Location: Inver Grove Hts |
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Doug O'Connor 9/1/2021 |
Location: Golden Valley |
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Tony 8/20/2020 |
Location: Hoyt Lakes |
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Brienna H. 9/20/2019 |
Location: Alexandria, Mn Have been finding A Lot of them in the woods in the past couple weeks:) |
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Simone 9/11/2019 |
Location: Southwest Becker County Found three puffballs, one quite large in size, while mountain biking in the woods. |
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Nicholas O 9/5/2019 |
Location: Elm Creek Park, Champlin |
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Kelsey Spalding 9/1/2019 |
Location: Carver County Found by a creek in Carver County! |
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Emily Miller 10/18/2018 |
Location: Golden Valley, MN Found with our daycare kids on a nature walk! |
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Jon Nicholson 9/2/2018 |
Location: New Hartford Township (eastern Winona County) I found one today, after a cold front came through, with a lot of rain. I also found one on 6-24-2018. A couple of years previously, I found a large group of them in late Fall, after they had all matured and dispersed their spores. |
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Linda 9/19/2018 |
Location: Longville, MN |
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Tanner 9/9/2018 |
Location: Kanabec County found in outskirts of wooded area. |
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mary junge 8/29/2016 |
Location: Purgatory Park, Minnetonka about as big as a standard size globe |
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Charles Widner 8/22/2016 |
Location: Polk County |
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Wayne Perala 7/31/2016 |
Location: Ulen, MN. Ulen City Park in the woods. |
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Eric Pagnano 9/29/2015 |
Location: Chatfield, Olmsted County |
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Mary Jo Blanchard 9/19/2015 |
Location: Deephaven, MN In the woods. |
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kball 9/6/2015 |
Location: Markham, MN |
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St. Croix Valley Puff Ball 9/5/2015 |
Location: West Lakeland, MN This particular puff ball mushroom was the size of a soccer ball! |
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heffe' 9/4/2015 |
Location: Afton, MN would love to eat this thing but afraid! Obvious it is a puffball! |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
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