Yesterday evening, I found a wonderful patch of little puffball fungi releasing their spores in response to wind gusts coming out of the north. The sun had not yet set and I was feeling a bit lazy, so I laid in the grass and watched the spores launch themselves into the air. It was a comfortable spot and I’d probably still be there if the sun hadn’t dropped behind the hill.
These puffballs were just a little over an inch across and had openings at the top from which the spores exited.
The wind came in gusts and had a double effect on the fungi. Strong gusts would physically shake the puffball and produce a substantial plume of spores.
Gentler winds produced a more subtle removal of spores. Spores are forced from the opening as the moving air produces an area of low pressure outside the enclosed globe. I once demonstrated this phenomenon to someone by gently blowing over the opening in the puffball and producing a stream of exiting spores. I passed the puffball over for her to try, but instead of blowing across the hole, she blew into it and got a face full of spores for her trouble. Needless to say, I was accused of perpetrating some elaborate practical joke. My defensive arguments were severely weakened by my laughter.
The spores seem to lift slowly from the opening and then accelerate as they get caught up by the wind.
I’m showing this shot because there appears to be a ghostly woman’s face staring at me from the mass of spores. Too bad it’s after Halloween. Of course, it may be that I just inhaled too many hallucinogenic mushroom spores and there’s no face at all.
For a second time, this Giant Puffball fungus has fooled me into thinking it was a piece of trash. The first time, I mistook the fresh fungus for an old volleyball. This time it looked like a piece of foam rubber cushion with a deteriorating plastic cover. The ridiculous part is the fact that I was doing the exact same thing, mowing along the road, and spotted the puffball from the exact same angle. In a month's time it has gone from a fleshy mass to a pile of dust. It’s a fascinating natural event, but it still reminds me of trash.
The mass of spores looks more like a clogged lint trap or an abused air filter than it does the source of millions of possible puffballs. 
Here are the remains of the Tough Puffball I found last month. This was growing on one of my mowed walking trails and I probably would have mowed it over if the grass had done any growing since then. A small portion of the puffball’s upper skin has remained in place, but most of the spore mass has been laid bare to the elements. 
Despite its ragged condition, the breeze continues to strip spores from the surface and carry them aloft for distribution in far locales. It can sometimes take months for the last of the spores to disappear. Winds this fall have come from all directions, so these spores have had the opportunity to travel many places far from their origin.
Wind isn’t the only dispersal mechanism transporting spores from this site. Raindrops splash spores onto the surrounding soil. Heavy rains fill the base of the puffball with water that carries spores as it flows off through gaps in the deteriorating side walls. Floating spores may be filtered from the water as it flows overland or they may be deposited by floodwater far downstream.
By next spring there should be nothing left here but an empty shell. It’s hard to predict how much area will ultimately receive spores from this one puffball. Under ideal conditions, it’s possible that the spores could cover the globe. Maybe this is my way of sharing a little bit of Blue Jay Barrens with the rest of the world. Let me know if any of my spores show up in your neighborhood.
