Puffball (Flattened spherical, yellowish-brown, papery, fragmented cottony mass, light and porous, soft, elastic)

Puffball (Contains a large number of spores inside, dust-like spores fly out, feels delicate and smooth to the touch)

【Name】

Puffball

 【Source】

Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic – Lower Grade

 【Common Usage Level】

E

 【Botanical Origin】

Dried fruiting bodies of various Puffball fungi, including Lasiosphaera nipponica (Kowam.) Y. Kobayasi et. Y. Asahina and other L. spp. of the Lycoperdaceae family.

 【Characteristics】

It is flattened spherical or nearly spherical, with a diameter of 15~18㎝ or larger. The outer skin is grayish-brown to yellowish-brown, papery, often broken into fragments, or completely detached. The Puffball with the outer skin removed is yellowish-brown or brownish-brown and cottony. It is light, porous, soft, and elastic. It contains a large number of spores inside, and dust-like spores fly out with slight movement. It feels delicate and soft to the touch. It has a faint odor.

 【Identification】

The best quality is dry, yellowish-brown, large, uniform, round, unbroken, and contains a full, cottony powder.

Skinned Puffball and large Puffball fruiting bodies are larger, have thin skins, no sterile base, are light and porous, elastic, and release spores when rubbed. Purple Puffball fruiting bodies are smaller, have thin, purplish-brown, two-layered peridium. After the spores mature, the peridium everts, exposing the cottony, sterile base. Other types of Puffballs generally have smaller fruiting bodies, varying shapes, some with short stalks, some with hard shells, some with long roots, or two clustered together, etc.

 【Identification Terminology】

1. Powder: Generally refers to powdery substances that fly out after medicinal materials are broken or crushed, such as the starch after breaking Puffball and Ampelopsis Radix, and the medulla of Ephedra, etc.

 【Category】

Fungi and Algae