#365daysofbiking Humongous:
September 19th – A real find on the enclosed football pitch next to the old Smith’s Flour Mill in Walsall, next to the central Ring Road – quite the largest giant puffball I’ve ever seen.
This prize specimen looks a little old to eat and was beyond reach anyway through the fence, but I did giggle at the idea of it being kicked accidentally, mistaken for a football.
What a whopper!
August 2nd – Victoria Park, Darlaston, and a sign of the advancing seasons awakens me to the idea that summer is ebbing away: earthball fungus, looking pristine and fresh growing well in the grass.
Relatives of the better known puffball (indeed, some call the pigskin poison puffball), earthballs have no aperture to let the spores escape, they merely collapse when ripe and allow the wind to do the rest.
They are mildly toxic and can cause bad reactions, including a very bad stomach and allergy-like symptoms, such as rhinitis.
Fascinating fungus though.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 