A Giant (Mushroom)

Among Us

By Kendra Bobowick

Ray Peterson of Forecast International on Commerce Drive discovered what he thinks might be Newtown’s largest mushroom.

“It has to be!” he wrote in a recent e-mail.

On a rainy Wednesday afternoon the large ball of fungus’s bright white, smooth surface gleamed beneath dark green foliage. Estimating it to be “about the size of two footballs,” Mr Peterson leaned down to lift branches away from the huge puffball, and placed a ruler against it. Nearly a foot tall and more than 12 inches wide, the puffball had caught a coworkers’ eye, also drawing Mr Peterson’s attention.

The Calvatia gigantea, commonly known as the giant puffball, is a puffball mushroom often found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests worldwide. The mushroom appears in late summer and autumn, and is common throughout Europe and North America.

Most giant puffballs grow to be 3.9 to 28 inches in diameter, although occasionally some can reach diameters of 59 inches and weights of as much as 44 pounds, according to Wikipedia.

All members of the true puffball family are considered edible when immature.