Life in Newburgh on Ythan

By Talpa

Three wolf-farts

Puffballs are reproductive organs of underground fungi. They come in many sizes, some as small as a marble and some as large as a basketball. Their surfaces may be smooth, covered with small or large warts, or ornamented with spikes. When mature they are full of tiny spores which are eventually released into the air and dispersed by the wind to form new colonies. The clouds of spores escaping from the puffball have given rise to some of its common names, for example the Devil's snuff-box and Wolf-fart.

The largest puffballs are estimated to contain 7 trillion spores, each potentially capable of starting a new colony. Which rather begs the question as to why why we are not oxter deep in puffballs!

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