Nothing like having your olfactory nerves grabbed by an odoriferous 'shroom while you're out and about. Before the rain started on Wednesday we were working on clearing brush from an area where we are planning to build a boardwalk in the work swamp. As I was doing a walk-through to find flagging tape that was hung last winter, a distinctive odor rose up from the ground. I knew immediately that I was in the vicinity of some type of stinkhorn. It took a little looking, but I soon discovered the culprit - Ravenel's Stinkhorn - Phallus ravenelii - probably. There is a chance it is another Phallus or possibly a Dictyophora, but I'm leaning more toward the Ravenel's.
We have been in a severe drought here so I was quite surprised to see these fungi. Since I found them on Wednesday, we have had a decent rainfall. I plan to go back into the site on Monday and see if there are any more of these "delightful" stinkhorns in the area. I'd like to get a couple more pictures if there are any of the stinkhorns in better shape than the ones I found Wednesday.
5 comments:
I've never seen (or smelled) and stinkhorn. Very interesting mushroom!
kerri,
Stinkhorns always get bad press, but they are really interesting fungi - stinky though. It's crazy how many people come to my site because they googled "how to kill stinkhorns" Funny thing is, I have never posted anything having to do with killing them!
Hey! I beat you to this one, Swampy - with my Dog Dickies (caninus mutinus) on Sept. 5th.
Well actually, yours is the (ahem) more impressive one :0)
I got down low to photograph mine and hadn't fully appreciated the stench until then.
Man, this post stinks.
:)
cathy,
This is the third species of stinkhorn I have posted. I posted my own "dog dickies" a couple of years ago - truly funky fungus that you just gotta love!
FC,
Why thank you! It is a real stinker ;)
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