Giant puffballs (Calvatia gigantea) occasionally turn up on farmland. The largest can grow to over 1 metre in diameter, but usually they are a similar size and shape to a football. When young and white inside, they are edible. As they age the outer skin turns yellow and the interior turns into a mass of brown spore dust. The spores are dispersed by the wind when the skin decays.
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Landcare Research – Manaaki Whenua
Photograph by Ross Beever
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