The students behind efforts to name the Calvatia gigantea the state mushroom of Illinois had an opportunity to learn more about the “giant puffball” at the Field Museum on Tuesday.
Among the attendees was state Rep. Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett), the chief sponsor of the bill that designated the Calvatia gigantea Illinois’ state mushroom. He said it was the Prairie School of DuPage that first reached out to him with the idea.
“We’re coming back as a team and this is our celebration,” Lewis said.
The bill passed in May, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it into law in early August.
“It was a great experience,” Lewis said, adding it was opportunity for students to participate in hearings and see the matter pass out of committee and get a final vote in Springfield.
“Not only was it a scientific project,” Lewis said, “but it really was a civics lesson in how that bill becomes a law.”
Erin Gogliotti, 9, said interest in the “giant puffball” — as it’s commonly called — sparked when some students found the mushroom across schoolgrounds in Wheaton.
“The kindergarteners at our school found one and thought it was a dinosaur egg,” she said. “We didn’t know we were going to have such a large process with the Calvatia gigantea.”
Field Museum research scientist Matt Nelsen said the students’ experience isn’t uncommon; the “giant puffball” can be found across the state, in forests or in grasslands.
“What’s so incredible about (the puffball) is they can get so incredibly large, and they can contain 7 to 8 trillion spores,” Nelsen said.
Those spores are released through tiny pores in the mushroom and then carried by the wind.
Or as Gogliotti likes to put it, they “explode.”
Lewis said he appreciated the students advocating for a mushroom that could be found across the state and not in just one area.
“They wanted to be inclusive, which helped put it over the top to becoming the state symbol for our state mushroom,” Lewis said.
As for the importance of having a state mushroom, Nelsen said it helps increase the public’s awareness of fungi.
“They are a tremendous source of diversity and they’re playing important roles out there in nature,” Nelsen said. “This is a really nice opportunity to get people’s attention and make them think more about the other fungi out there, beyond the mushroom on their pizza.”