Fruit bodies are oval to spherical to pear-shaped, and typically 1 to 8 cm (0.4 to 3.1 in) in diameter with a white or light-colored thin and fragile exoperidium (outer layer of the peridium).

At maturity, the entire fruit body may become detached from the ground, and the spores spread as the puffball is blown around like a tumbleweed.

[9] In Bovista, the capillitium (a network of thread-like cells in which the spores are embedded) is not connected directly to the interior wall of the peridium.

[15] Puffballs of the genus Bovista are generally edible when young and white inside, but caution must be taken to prevent confusion with immature, and potentially deadly Amanitas.

[16] Bovistina is a related but separate genus that was created to describe species with the external features of a puffball, but with the glebal characters of a Geaster.

[19] In Lectures on Clinical Materia Medica (1887), E. A. Farrington claims that Bovista spores restrict blood circulation through the capillaries, and suggests uses associated with menstrual irregularity, or trauma.

He also mentions that Bovista produces some symptoms of suffocation, and might be useful in remedying asphyxiation resulting from inhalation of charcoal fumes.

[20] Even more ailments have been suggested to be improved with use of Bovista, such as "awkwardness in speech and action", "stuttering or stammering children", "palpitation after a meal", diabetes mellitus, ovarian cysts, and "acne due to cosmetics".