Comparison
Giant puffball or common earthball? How to tell them apart
Giant puffball is an edible mushroom, while the common earthball is a poisonous mushroom. Compare the two mushrooms point by point.
The giant puffball is much larger, smooth and white, with a white interior; the earthball is small, yellowish, cracked, dark inside.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Giant puffball | Common earthball |
|---|---|---|
| Edibility | Edible | Poisonous |
| Cap | Fruit body globose or slightly flattened, huge – 10–60 cm across; white, smooth, with a floury bloom, ochre to brown with age; the skin cracks when mature. | Fruit body globose or tuber-like, up to 10 cm, without a stem; hard, heavy, with a thick straw-yellow to yellow-brown skin cracked into warty patches. |
| Under the cap | No gills – spores are produced inside (the gleba): white when young, then yellow and olive-brown, finally powdery. | No gills – the interior (gleba) is whitish only in very young specimens, soon violet, then black with white veins (like ground poppy seed), finally an olive-brown powder. |
| Stem | No stem; a thin cord of white mycelium at the base. | No stem; a tuft of whitish mycelial strands at the base. |
| Flesh | White, firm, cottony in young specimens; turns yellow and olive with age. | Thick, hard skin (peridium); the interior soon purple-black. |
| Smell and taste | Smell and taste mushroomy, mild. Spore mass olive-brown. | Smell strong, aromatic, spicy. Do not taste. |
| Habitat | In meadows, pastures, lawns, parks, gardens, scrub and among nettles, on fertile, nitrogen-rich soils; rarely in forests. More common in northern Poland. | Very common; on poor, acidic, sandy soils in forests (mainly coniferous), at forest edges, on forest track verges, heaths and bogs. |
| Season | July, August, September, October | June, July, August, September, October, November |
How to recognise it: giant puffball
- A white ball from the size of a football to a large pumpkin in a meadow or park
- Smooth surface without spines
- Interior of a young specimen uniformly white
- No stem and no gills
How to recognise it: common earthball
- Hard, heavy tuber with a thick, yellowish, cracked skin
- Interior purple-black (like ground poppy seed)
- No stem
- Strong spicy smell
Safety rule
Never eat a mushroom identified only from a website, a photo or an app. Show any doubtful specimen to a certified mushroom inspector at the sanepid (state sanitary inspection); in season the advice points are free. Do not give wild-picked mushrooms to children.
The golden rules of foraging →Frequently asked questions
Giant puffball or common earthball: how can you tell them apart?
The giant puffball is much larger, smooth and white, with a white interior; the earthball is small, yellowish, cracked, dark inside.
Common earthball: what to do if you have eaten it?
Call 112 at once or go to A&E (SOR), and take any leftover mushrooms with you. Gastrointestinal syndrome after eating larger amounts (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain); the toxins are not named in the sources.
Sources
- Wikipedia (pl): Czasznica olbrzymia
- grzyby.pl (atlas M. Snowarskiego): Langermannia gigantea
- First Nature: Calvatia gigantea
- Wikipedia (pl): Tęgoskór cytrynowy
- grzyby.pl (atlas M. Snowarskiego): Scleroderma citrinum
- First Nature: Scleroderma citrinum
Last checked: 9 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Write to us.