Can someone explain what this is growing all over my back yard?

Question

We have lived in our house for about 4 years, and then all of a sudden in the last month or so, these things have been popping up everywhere, seemingly overnight. They are rather big, probably like 5 inches x 5 inches or bigger. They are hard, and are attached to the ground. When I kicked them off, the inside is solid and looks dry like divinity candy or something. They are also hard to get off the ground.

We live in California, so we haven't had any rain in months, and these things are growing out in the open, under bushes..even near our completely empty patio area. Our ground is very hard right now with no rain, and there are not any recently removed tree's, etc. They are completely solid, not spongy like a mushroom would be.

I am beginning to get worried if it is some sort of mold infestation or something. I am going to try and post a link to a flickr photo of the "alien mold spore".



http://www.flickr.com/photos/14300001@N02/

Answer 1

I don't know where you live in California, but for most of the state there's actually been a touch of rain at least once in the past couple weeks. Which means that the alates (winged termites) are flying and some of the earthballs, puffballs and earthstars are popping up.
What you're seeing are probably earthballs that haven't opened. These can be quite solid until mature--a lot of them remain so. Your best bet to get a better ID is to wait until they start opening up and releasing spores.

Answer 2

If it's not a mushroom then it's a slime mold. There was a scare sometime a while ago in this one place where they thought it was an alien infestation (like the 50's or 60's) lol.

If they are slime molds then they could usually move by themselves. Some people keep them as pets, as strange as that is.

Answer 3

It's a mushroom.

Answer 4

a kind of cactus?stone plant?mushroom?