It's been pretty rainy this spring which has caused a bunch of 'new' fungi to grow in our yard. I try to make a daily inspection of the flower beds, etc. to just to keep up with how everything is doing. I watch for anything new or different whether it's a plant or bug or whatever. I've found all kinds of mushrooms and other fungi growing recently. Today I found this one:
Sorry for the poor photo quality as I was using my daughter's cheap digicam. For better images and more information see here or there.
It is called an Elegant Stinkhorn (Mutinus elegans, isn't that a cool-sounding Latin name?). The one in my yard is an 'aging' one as you can see the similarity to the last image of the second link above. The caption in that image is "Note the stinkhorns collapsing in age." And truly, it when I first saw it I thought it looked rather pitiful and 'spent', a bit like a discarded hmmm, how to say it, prophylactic device. It has no 'cap' and the stalk is hollow. This wikipedia image is most similar to the one in our yard. I didn't make an effort to smell it so I don't know if it really does stink. It's breezy today and the only scent on the air at the time was the giant thistle growing nearby (very prickly and difficult to handle which is why it's still there).
I find this kind of thing very serendipitous and funny in light of my last posting, especially when looking at the Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Subdivision: Hymenomycotina
Class: Homobasidiomycetes
Order: Phallales
Family: Phallaceae
Ain't Nature grand?!?
1 comment:
I love nature but not critters. (smiling) You do as I have always done...check out the flower beds daily. Watching things grow is so cool. My favorite time for walk arounds are in the mornings and at dusk.
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