DANVERS — Some residents of the Amherst Condominiums at 52 Purchase St. became curious after they spotted some softball-, basketball- and beach ball-size mushrooms growing in a shaded, overgrown area on the other side of a chain-link fence in their neighbor's yard.
The shady area next to the condo complex includes many fallen branches and a rotted wood pile. In this yard grew a dozen or so giant mushrooms, some a foot or more in diameter.
On inspection, they look like balls blossoming on the ground scattered among branches and twigs. Others sprout from the base of trees. Some are white; others are dark gray. One orange-colored mushroom growing untouched across the yard rivaled a bicycle wheel in diameter and looked like a large watermelon.
Curiosity got the best of these residents Monday night when they decided to gather some of them up, measure and photograph them, then throw back over the fence.
Some that broke open showed a spongy green spore dust on the inside and they stank, well, like mushrooms.
The residents became aware of the mushrooms because sometimes real estate agents walk prospective buyers around the grounds.
"As soon as you move them, they deflate," said resident Rex Turben. "As soon as you punch a hole in it, they shrink."
"Those spores come out like a powder," said top-floor resident Lillian Foye.
"I thought it was most unusual, to say the least," said resident Jeanne Barrett.
The field of mushrooms residents stumbled upon are called "puffballs," said Dugie Russell, a Beverly resident.
"That's definitely what it sounds like," said Russell, who is so good at identifying mushrooms, some area hospitals consult him when they suspect a child has nibbled on a poisonous one.
So are puffballs poisonous? Most aren't, Russell said, and they are of a type he is actively hunting all the time.
From the description the residents gave, Russell said these mushrooms were past their prime.
"They are on their way out. When they are ripe, it's solid white meat," said Russell, 69, a retired court officer who has noticed that the wet weather has mushrooms popping up all over the North Shore.
Puffballs that are solid black on the inside should be avoided, he said. You can tap on the puffballs, and those that have a nice drum sound should be OK. Those that are yellow, green or brown on the inside are beyond eating.
Russell likes to take puffballs, slice them up, dip them in a batter of milk and eggs, coat them with bread crumbs, then fry them in a pan of butter and olive oil.
Russell said he plans to contact the owner of the home to see if he can get permission to harvest them next year.
"They will be back," Russell said, especially since they were broken open and the spores were spread.
Attempts to reach the home-owner, via a knock on the door and a phone call, were unsuccessful.
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