# Puffball (Calvatia gigantea)

**Calvatia gigantea*, *Lycoperdon* species; devil’s snuffbox*

**Known today as.** White balls that ripen into a cloud of brown spores.

Kind: Fungus

## What was it used for?

The spore mass was packed into wounds to stop bleeding; beekeepers burned it to stupefy their bees.

## What does modern science say?

Edible when young and white throughout; the spores, breathed in large amounts, can inflame the lungs.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **calvacin**: a protein with antitumour activity in mice (1960s)
- **spores**: which cause lycoperdonosis
- **ergosterol**: 

**Mechanism.** The spore mass packed in a wound is a dry, absorbent, mildly haemostatic dressing, and the smoke stupefies bees; the spores inhaled in quantity, as by teenagers who snorted them in 1994, cause lycoperdonosis, a pneumonitis that needed steroids and ventilation. Calvacin from the giant puffball slowed tumours in mice in 1960 and went no further.

**Dose.** Young, white, and cooked, a food; the spores are not to be inhaled.

**Standing.** An edible when young; a documented inhalation hazard.

## What lore surrounds it?

“Devil’s snuffbox” for the smoke of spores that puffs out when it is trodden on.

## Sources

- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*.
- Centers for Disease Control (1994). “Respiratory illness associated with inhalation of mushroom spores: Wisconsin, 1994.” *MMWR* 43.
- Lucas, E. H., et al. (1957). “Production of oncostatic principles in vivo and in vitro by species of the genus *Calvatia*.” *Antibiotics Annual*.

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*Puffball.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/puffball

Historical description, not medical advice.