Common Earthball

Identification

Common earthballs are round to irregular, usually without a distinct stem, and attached by root-like mycelial cords. The outer rind is thick, tough, and yellow-brown with coarse scales or polygonal cracks. Cut one open: the center soon becomes firm purple-black marbled with pale lines, then turns powdery at maturity.

Do not use outside color or roundness alone. A complete vertical slice is the fastest way to separate earthball tissue, a true puffball, and an enclosed Amanita button.

Why it matters

Eating earthballs can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Reports also describe dizziness or faintness. They are sometimes sliced into dishes after being mistaken for young puffballs.

Earthballs form mycorrhizal partnerships with trees. The parasitic bolete Pseudoboletus parasiticus may grow directly from an earthball, producing one of the stranger mushroom-on-mushroom pairings in a forest.

Memorable fact

The common name pigskin poison puffball describes both its tough rind and the exact mistake to avoid.

Sources

• Clinical report including Scleroderma citrinum poisoning
• iNaturalist taxon reference