Funghi
Calvatia cyathiformis
B tier
Calvatia cyathiformis is the purple-spored puffball—medium to large, often with a sterile base, edible only when the interior is still pure white before the gleba turns purple-brown. Young flavour is mild like other puffballs; maturity is a spore bomb, not dinner. The purple spore stage is a late ID feature, useless for table selection—you must catch it early. Slice large young ones for frying. Discard at first hint of purple or olive marbling inside. Grasslands and open woods are typical habitat.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Purple-spored Calvatia was distinguished in mycological descriptions from giant white species.
Edibility guides allowed young white stages of C. cyathiformis with caution on maturity.
Foragers documented purple spore dust as a clear past-edible signal.
Species remained a moderate-priority edible among Calvatia hunters.