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Grzybiarz is a mobile app for mushroom foragers. Its on-device AI helps you spot fruiting bodies in the leaf litter and suggests a species from a photo, and the app keeps a private map of your finds. Everything runs on your phone and works fully offline in the forest without signal.

Giant puffballCalvatia gigantea

edible

Giant puffballCalvatia gigantea

Photo: (c) Jacqui Geux, some rights reserved (CC BY)

Habitat

meadows, pastures

parks, treelines

deciduous forests

Season

from July to October

Agaricaceae

10–80 cm

Season

Out of seasonOut of season. It usually grows from mid-July to mid-October.

Today · 22–28 Octout of season

how often reportedpeak

Season

Jul–Oct

Peak

Aug–Sep

Reports

220from Poland

Risk window

Death Cap grows at the same time

Both species grow together for about 13 wk a year. Most strongly from mid-August to mid-September.

Curve from 220 observations (iNaturalist, Poland), smoothed week by week. It shows when foragers most often report the species, not how much of it grows.

Key features

Very large fruit body, spherical to egg-shaped, white, smooth or slightly suede-like, yellowing and cracking with age. No stem and no external spore-bearing surface (the gleba is inside); flesh of young specimens white, firm and compact like cheese, and only such specimens are fit to eat; old ones turn brown and release spores.

Similar (be careful)Confusions documented in our database

DeathcapAmanita phalloides

deadly

The giant puffball has uniform white flesh inside; a young Deathcap at the 'egg' stage already shows the outline of the gills and stem when cut. Always cut the balls in half.

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