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puffball

(n): any of various fungi of the family Lycoperdaceae whose round fruiting body discharges a cloud of spores when mature
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about 1 month ago qroqqa said:

also: the fruit of a sycamore

When I first knew the neighbourhood, at the turn of the century, Fifth Street was paved with cobblestones, and a genial City Council allowed a tall sycamore tree to stand quietly in the middle of the brick sidewalk in front of Mrs Albright's house, dropping its puffballs in season.
—James Thurber, 1952, 'Daguerreotype of a Lady', in The Thurber Album (Penguin ed., so BrE conventions)

Not in OED specifically in this sense, but its sense 3 includes: '(in extended use) something resembling or reminiscent of a powder puff in appearance, esp. the pappus of the dandelion, thistle, etc.'

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geekwad (250 words)
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