Can anyone identify this mushroom?

[HeadFairy]

At least I think it's a mushroom, it could be a toadstool of course.... it looks like a tennis ball that's been chewed by a dog and has lost all it's fuzz... it's about the size of a tennis ball, but greyish in colour. I've got them growing all over my lawn and I want to know if they're poisonous. I'm worried because ds keeps trying to pick them up.

sound like puffballs,I will try and find a pic

www.nifg.org.uk/edible_fungi.htm scroll down to common puffball,is that them?

Oh,and note that if it is common puffballs,then they are edible so not a worry at all.

hmmm it's not spikey like the common puffball, it actually looks more like the giant puffball but it's not that big. Our neighbours have got an apple tree which is dropping apples all over our lawn and initially I thought they were fallen apples that were rotting.

The coatings do change with time,and giant puffballs are not all gigantic.It may be that as they are ageing they look slightly different and lose the spikey look. I have eaten giant puffballs,fried with bacon,when I was a small child on my Gt Aunt's farm.I will go look in my fungus book for any other likely things!

Oh I see, lovely, thanks for that. I won't eat anything, much too nervous for that, but at least if it is a puffball then I know ds isn't going to kill himself eating one! I'm still going to dig them all out of the lawn though, just in case...

Giant puffballs start off white all the way through,and as they age they develop blackish spores inside and they sort of collapse into a dusty mush.does that sound like yours? You could post a picture!

sorry helly, just coming on now so it's a bit too late to take a picture now, I'll try and do one tomorrow but that sounds promising. They have collapsed in to a dusty mush... I picked one the other day and a cloud of brown dust flew out and it collapsed.

right Helly, pic on my profile now...

hmm,its hard to tell as those are old and breaking down.They do look like puffballs though.I am going to look at some other pics to compare.Your children are so beautiful by the way! and they are alike which is lovely.

www.malverntrail.co.uk/album/images/04sept12b.jpg here is a good puffball pic.i've had a look at quite a few and I feel sure thats what you have so you needn't worry too much that they are toxic.I could post some other pics if it would help!

Oh that's fantastic Helly, thanks so much for that, it's put my mind at ease.

Thanks for all your help and kind comments about my dcs. Naturally I'm biased, I can't quite believe I've managed to produce two stunners!