any ideas?

[junglefries]

Was out in my usual mantis hunting spot and found these. Any ideas? Didn't want to rip one open, just in case. Found all under one rotten log and not under any others. The shrooms were growing under all the trees.

 

[junglefries]

turns out it is some kind of sponge.

 

[Psychobunny]

Peyote buttons..... they do grow wild in VA ya know

 

[jajeanpierre]

I meant to answer. Were these growing in the ground or above the ground?

They look like puffball mushrooms to me. Most puffballs are edible and really delicious. They are one of the easiest mushrooms to correctly identify.

One species of puffballs is toxic. I can't remember the name, but my husband cooked them up for us one morning and we both ended up in the hospital for a day or two. (My husband, an avid mushroom collector, believed there were no poisonous puffballs because, after all, his mother told him so. Boy, was I mad at him!)

The poisonous ones have a woody texture. They are easy to identify. Do an internet search on puffball mushrooms. As I said the edible ones are very easy to identify. My husband ended up poisoning us both because he honestly didn't believe there was any poisonous puffball mushroom.

The edible ones are really soft and spongy. They can range in size from a tennis ball to almost as big as a basket ball. You have to pick them while the flesh is still firm and white, before it starts to develop spores. The puffball will end up completely dried out and will puff out its spores if you touch it. You cut them up into thick slices and fry them in butter. They are really good. Just be sure they are the edible ones.

I'll get my husband to look at your pictures. Where are you located?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Here's a few links to get you started. You definitely DO NOT want to eat a mushroom that looks like an edible puffball that turns out to be an immature gilled mushroom. There is a photo of what that looks like in the first link.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/puffballs.html

This is the little darling my husband poisoned me with. Our blood pressure plummeted which isn't listed on the side effects for the mushroom but I did report it to a researcher who tracks mushroom poisoning incidents.

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Pigskin.html

Here's more information on puffballs:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Puffball Overview.html

 

[junglefries]

Peyote buttons..... they do grow wild in VA ya know

If that were true, would have eaten them on the spot! I haven't seen them since high school. For those who know me as uptight, I was young and WILD once. Before my kid.

 

[junglefries]

I meant to answer. Were these growing in the ground or above the ground?

They look like puffball mushrooms to me. Most puffballs are edible and really delicious. They are one of the easiest mushrooms to correctly identify.

One species of puffballs is toxic. I can't remember the name, but my husband cooked them up for us one morning and we both ended up in the hospital for a day or two. (My husband, an avid mushroom collector, believed there were no poisonous puffballs because, after all, his mother told him so. Boy, was I mad at him!)

The poisonous ones have a woody texture. They are easy to identify. Do an internet search on puffball mushrooms. As I said the edible ones are very easy to identify. My husband ended up poisoning us both because he honestly didn't believe there was any poisonous puffball mushroom.

The edible ones are really soft and spongy. They can range in size from a tennis ball to almost as big as a basket ball. You have to pick them while the flesh is still firm and white, before it starts to develop spores. The puffball will end up completely dried out and will puff out its spores if you touch it. You cut them up into thick slices and fry them in butter. They are really good. Just be sure they are the edible ones.

I'll get my husband to look at your pictures. Where are you located?

These were found in Carrolton, VA. (Basically it is known as Smithfield or Sufflok, VA)