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Long-spined Puffball
A North American puffball covered in long, soft white spines that are often joined at the tips in small groups. The spines stay white as the fruitbody matures. Once they fall, the skin underneath is smooth and unmarked, which separates it from look-alikes that become pitted.
Reported edible when young while the interior is white and firm, and inedible with age; it is small and infrequent, so of little culinary value. Slice every puffball top to bottom before eating: it must be pure white and uniform inside. A cap-and-gill outline means a young Amanita egg, possibly deadly (amatoxins); a firm, thick-skinned ball that is purple-black inside is a poisonous Scleroderma earthball.
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