Curious "Pufball-like" Mushroom on a Rotting Birch Tree

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FIRST OFF, I SHOULD MENTION I WANT TO EAT THESE!

Okay, I recently came across some odd mushrooms that I thought were puffballs until I read that they do not grow on trees OR logs... but these are growing on trees and have every characteristic of a puffball. There are three growing on an old birch log. These mushrooms have no gills (see pictures) and look like a giant puffball that is just starting out. They are growing larger pretty fast. It should be noted that I have been watering them and the log. When I first noticed them I thought they were a puffball, so I cut one open to see if any gills were maturing inside... there were none... it looked just like a puffball inside... marshmellowy. This mushroom was located in northern Minnesota.

So take a look at the photos below, and ask away if I missed something in describing these mushrooms. Do you think this could be an edible puffball?

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Lycoperdon pyriforme. Also called Morganella pyriformis.

Very nice! Thank you for pointing me in a direction. I should note too that the largest one is measuring just about 4 inches at its widest now (the on pictured).

I just ate one raw, I will let you know the results.

...just joking about that... I did not eat :-)

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Okay, I just noticed these same mushrooms growing on a dead standing birch... this is what I thought they were at first until I cut one open but there are no signs of gills yet. It appears these are baby tinder fungus(?). See the new pics. I am guessing these are inedible.

Here is an actual photo of the other ones I found about 10-12 feet up...

And this is a better photo of what I think they are, which I found at this site: http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species/tinder_fungus.html

[Dave W]

The mushrooms seen in this thread growing on the birch wood are not puffballs. They are Piptoporus betulinus, the Birch Polypore. These are not poisonous, but they don't taste very good.

Note that on the underside of each mushroom there is a sandpaper-like pore surface.

There are puffballs that grow on dead wood, but these aren't puffballs.

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Thank you for the identification! Before I found the matured mushrooms I thought they were some odd puffball... they look just like a puffball when you cut them open. Right now there are no gills or pores on the new ones. Once I saw the same kind growing next to the old brown one, I decided I would rather not eat them.