puffball

English

Gem-studded puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum).

Etymology

From puff +‎ ball.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

puffball (plural puffballs)

1. Any of various fungi, usually globose, that produce a cloud of brown dust-like spores from their mature fruiting bodies, especially in family Lycoperdaceae.
2. (by extension) Any of various mushrooms with globose fruiting bodies.
3. A dandelion flower that has gone to seed, a dandelion clock.
4. (figurative) Something lacking substance.
   • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 371:

     Scads of souls thought the record was yet another puffball from ex-Beatle Paul.

Derived terms

• brain puffball (Calvatia craniiformis)
• brown puffball (Bovista nigrescens)
• common puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum)
• corkstar puffball (Mycenastrum corium)
• Curtis's puffball (Lycoperdon curtisii)
• dusky puffball (Lycoperdon nigrescens)
• dusty puffball (Bovista nigrescens)
• dwarf puffball (Lycoperdon dermoxanthum)
• false puffballs (Reticularia lycoperdon, syn. Enteridium lycoperdon, Hymenogastrales spp.)
• fen puffball (Bovista paludosa)
• flaky puffball (Lycoperdon mammiforme)
• gem-studded puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum)
• giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea)
• grassland puffball (Lycoperdon lividum)
• grey puffball (Bovista plumbea)
• gum puffball (Pisolithus arhizus)
• hard-skinned puffballs (Scleroderma spp.)
• lead-grey puffball (Bovista plumbea)
• long-spined puffball (Lycoperdon pulcherrimum)
• long-stemmed puffball (Lycoperdon excipuliforme)
• meadow puffball (Lycopoerdon pratense)
• mosaic puffball (Lycoperdon utriforme)
• paltry puffball (Bovista pila)
• pear-shaped puffball (Apioperdon pyriforme)
• peeling puffball (Lycoperdon marginatum)
• pestle puffball (Lycoperdon excipuliforme)
• pigskin poison puffball (Scleroderma citrinum)
• puffball beetles (Caenocara spp.)
• puffball skirt
• puffball sponges (Tethya spp., Oceanapia sagittaria)
• purple-spored puffball (Calvatia cyathiformis)
• sculpted puffball (Calvatia sculpta)
• sculptured puffball (Calbovista subsculpta)
• smoky puffball (Handkea fumosa)
• smooth puffball (Lycoperdon molle)
• spiny puffball, spring puffball (Lycoperdon echinatum)
• stalked puffballs (Tulostoma spp.)
• stump puffball (Apioperdon pyriforme)
• summer puffball (Globaria aestivalis)
• true puffballs (Bovista spp.)
• tumbling puffball (Bovista pila)
• umber-brown puffball (Lycoperdon umbrinum)
• warted puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum)
• winter stalk-puffball (Tulostoma brumale)

Translations

any of various fungi

• Breton: louf-bleiz m, puferig m
• Bulgarian: праханка f (prahanka)
• Catalan: pet de llop m
• Czech: pýchavka f
• Dutch: stuifzwam (nl) m
• Estonian: murumuna
• Finnish: tuhkelo (fi)
• French: vesse-de-loup (fr) f
• German: Bofist (de) m, Bovist (de) m, Stäubling m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: πέζις f (pézis)

• Hungarian: pöfeteg (hu)
• Irish: béiceadán m, bolg béice m, bolgán béice m
• Italian: vescia f
• Kazakh: жаңбыршы (jañbyrşy)
• Latvian: pūpēdis m
• Māori: tūtaeatua
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: røksopp m, røyksopp m

  Nynorsk: røyksopp m

• Ojibwe: anang
• Polish: kurzawka (pl) f, purchawka (pl) f
• Portuguese: bexiga-de-lobo f, bufa-de-lobo f, licoperdo m
• Romansh: bovist m
• Russian: дождеви́к (ru) m (doždevík), де́душкин таба́к m (déduškin tabák)
• Scottish Gaelic: balg-péiteach m, balg-smùid m, balg-séididh m
• Slovak: prášivka f
• Spanish: pedo de lobo m, cuesco de lobo m
• Swedish: röksvamp c
• Tanana:

  Lower Tanana: dotron' ch'edeltsene'

• Turkish: kurt mantarı (tr), toz mantarı, puf mantarı, duman mantarı, osuruk mantarı
• Welsh: coden fwg f, chwysigen fwg f

dandelion clock — see dandelion clock

Further reading

• “puffball”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• puffball on Wikipedia.Wikipedia