Common puffball vs Common earthball: how to tell them apart

Edible puffballs are pure white and soft inside, with a thin skin. Earthballs have a thick, hard, warty yellow-brown skin and firm flesh that is dark purple-black with white marbling. Earthballs are poisonous.

Side-by-side comparison

	Common puffball Lycoperdon perlatum	Common earthball Scleroderma citrinum
Safety status	Edible with caution	Poisonous
Cap	White to cream, 2–6 cm tall, covered in small cone-shaped spines that rub off leaving a net pattern	Dull yellow to brown, 3–10 cm, thick and scaly or warty skin
Underside	No gills	No gills
Stem	Short, stalk-like base that is part of the ball	Almost none, or a short, rooting base
Smell	Mild, fresh mushroom	Sharp, rubbery or like raw potato
Spore print	Olive-brown	Dark purple-brown
Habitat	Woodland floor, grass and heath	Acid soils in woods, heaths and lawns near trees
Season	Jul – Nov	Jul – Nov

Photos: Daniel Ullrich, Threedots, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Eric Steinert, CC BY-SA 3.0

Quick tests that separate them

1. Cut in half: soft, uniform white flesh (puffball) vs firm dark flesh (earthball).
2. Skin: thin, spiny (puffball) vs thick, rough, scaly (earthball).
3. Check for an outline: a mushroom shape inside any "puffball" means a deadly Amanita egg.

Key clues for each

Common puffball: Slice it in half from top to bottom: uniform pure white flesh and no outline of a stem, cap or gills inside.

Common earthball: Cut open: the flesh is firm, white with dark purple-black marbling and never uniformly pure white like an edible puffball.

Frequently asked questions