Fungi > Division Basidiomycota > Class Agaricomycetes > Order Agaricales > Family Agaricaceae.
Calvatia bovista is a large puffball but not as large as Calvatia gigantea the Giant puffball.
The white to grey fruit body can be up to 25 cm high and wide.
It is round or pear-shaped with base that may taper into a wide pseudo-stem.
The pseudo-stem can be up to half the height of the fruit body.
It is said to persist after the puffball has opened and released the spores.
Spores are made in the basidia in the fleshy gleba which dries as the spores mature.
The first spores released by the basidia cause an opening to appear at the top of the fruit body.
The mass of powdery spores escape through the opening.
J.F
