True Puffball (Noun)
Meaning
Any of various fungi of the family Lycoperdaceae whose round fruiting body discharges a cloud of spores when mature.
Classification
Nouns denoting plants.
Examples
- The field guide warned mushroom hunters to beware of poisonous species, such as the false morel and to seek only the true puffball for safe consumption.
- Inside the true puffball's leathery skin was a spongy interior filled with a smelly mass of spores that burst into the air when the fungus was mature.
- Some species of true puffball are prized as edible delicacies, possessing a mild flavor similar to tofu.
- Caution is essential when foraging for edible mushrooms to avoid being misled by the likeness of the poisonous earthball to the harmless true puffball.
- Eccentric naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, meticulously sketched species of true puffballs in the late eighteenth century to document their species' characteristics.