Daphne Porter, age 11, of Picton, Ont., Canada, for her question:
WHAT EXACTLY ARE PUFFBALLS?
The puffballs are the giants of the fungus plant family, big cousins of the mushrooms and toadstools. Some of these fungi are safe and delicious foods. Others contain deadly poisons, though maybe only at certain times of their lives. It takes an expert to know which ones are edible and when they are safe. And sometimes even an expert is mistaken.
Some of the fungus plants wear fancy spots and pretty colors, though most of them come in pasty white and brownish tones. However, not one of them comes in green for none of the fungi contains green chlorophyll. This is the magic material that the green plants need to use sunlight to manufacture their basic food from air and water.
For this reason, the nongreen fungi are in a class by themselves. They must depend on the green plants to prefabricate their basic food. We find them growing in soils rich in decaying plant material, such as fallen leaves and rotting tree stumps. The round, pasty color puffball often grows in woods and meadows, where the soil is enriched with generations of decomposing grasses and other vegetation.
The main plant is a mass of tangled threads lying just below the surface. This buried part of a fungus plant is called the mycelium. In warm, moist weather it sprouts a crop of fruiting bodies above the ground. Most of these fungus sprouts look like stubby umbrellas. The sprouting puffball is a smooth, round lump which grows bigger than a football.
If you happen to kick a puffball on just the right day, it puffs out a cloud of perhaps 7,000 billion tiny, tiny spores. Most of them blow away in the breezes. Perhaps one in a trillion lands in a suitable spot and sprouts the mycelium to start a new puffball plant.
Some people gather wild puffballs to eat—which can be quite risky Usually assorted insects and other hungry critters already are feasting inside. Besides, only a very young puffball is tasty and safe to eat. As it grows older it becomes tough and tasteless and like all wild plants it may be tainted with unfriendly bacteria or harmful chemicals. As a general safety rule, it is unwise to dine on puffballs or other wild plants.