Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Common stinkhorn

Phallus impudicus

Description:

Sometimes called the witch's egg,[5] the immature stinkhorn is whitish or pinkish, egg-shaped, and typically 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in) by 3 to 5 cm (1.2 to 2.0 in).[6] An immature fruiting body ("egg") in longitudinal section On the outside is a thick whitish volva, also known as the peridium, covering the olive-colored gelatinous gleba. It is the latter that contains the spores and later stinks and attracts the flies; within this layer is a green layer which will become the 'head' of the expanded fruit body; and inside this is a white structure called the receptaculum (the stalk when expanded), that is hard, but has an airy structure like a sponge.[7] The eggs become fully grown stinkhorns very rapidly, over a day or two.[5] The mature stinkhorn is 10 to 25 cm (3.9 to 9.8 in) tall and 4 to 5 cm (1.6 to 2.0 in) in diameter,[6] topped with a conical cap 2 to 4 cm (0.8 to 1.6 in) high that is covered with the greenish-brown slimy gleba. In older fungi the slime is eventually removed, exposing a bare yellowish pitted and ridged (reticulate) surface. This has a passing resemblance to the common morel (Morchella esculenta), with which it is sometimes mistaken.[8] The rate of growth of Phallus impudicus has been measured at 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) per hour. The growing fruit body is able to exert up to 1.33 kN/m2 of pressure—a force sufficient to push up through asphalt.[9] The spores have an elliptical to oblong shape, with dimensions of 3–5 to 1.5–2.5 µm.[8

Habitat:

The common stinkhorn can be found throughout much of Europe and North America, and it has also been collected in Asia (including China,[19] Taiwan,[20] and India[21]), Costa Rica,[22] Iceland,[23] Tanzania,[24] and southeast Australia.[25] In North America, it is most common west of the Mississippi River; Ravenel's stinkhorn (Phallus ravenelii) is more common to the east.[26] The fungus is associated with rotting wood, and as such it is most commonly encountered in deciduous woods where it fruits from summer to late autumn, though it may also be found in conifer woods or even grassy areas such as parks and gardens.[7] It may also form mycorrhizal associations with certain trees.

Notes:

spotted in a mix forest of oaks,pine trees and eucalyphtus,near my house.

1 Species ID Suggestions

Lipase
Lipase 11 years ago
Stinkhorn sp.
Phallus sp.


Sign in to suggest organism ID

4 Comments

Thanks J and Mauna for your kind words,this one was a great finding for me ,to see this one completly growed in a perfect state, very cool and stinky :-)

mauna Kunzah
mauna Kunzah 10 years ago

Fantastic.

Jacob Gorneau
Jacob Gorneau 10 years ago

Lovely photos, António! What a beautiful fungus!

Thanks rat.tumour aka lipase for the id

Braga, Portugal

Spotted on Dec 7, 2012
Submitted on Dec 7, 2012

Related Spottings

Phallus luteus Phallus rubicundus Common Stinkhorn Common stinkhorn

Nearby Spottings

Cliff Brake Bush lily Black Redstart(Rabiruivo Preto) Magnolia
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team