Lycoperdon pyriforme
Copyright, Pamela Kaminski, Used with Permission
This mushroom
is shaped like an upside-down pear. It is usually
yellowish-brown and it can grow almost two inches wide and
two inches tall. Pear-shaped Puffballs
grow on wood, old logs, stumps, and debris. They are very common and
they often grow together in clusters. Like most mushrooms, the
part you see is like the "flower" of a plant. Most of the
fungus
is a mass of thread-like parts inside the log or
stump. Copyright, Leon
Shernoff Copyright, Pamela
Kaminski, Used with Permission Mushrooms do not have
seeds; instead they have spores.
The Pear-shaped Puffball's spores are inside the mushroom.
For them to get out and spread to grow new mushrooms, the
puffball must be broken by an outside force. Usually puffballs are
broken by animals stepping on them, or by heavy
rain. When a puffball is
broken, huge amounts of spores are released. It looks a lot
like smoke. When Pear-shaped
Puffballs are young, before they are full of spores,
fungus-eating animals will eat them. Eastern Box Turtles,
Eastern Gray Squirrels, and Leopard Slugs are some animals
that will eat these mushrooms. When spores come out of a
puffball, they look white at first, changing to a
greenish-yellow color. Pear-shaped Puffballs
often have tiny, warty bumps on them.
