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Project Noah Nature School
Lysurus mokusin
The Lantern Stinkhorn is a saprobic species of fungus in the family Phallaceae. The fruit body, which has an odour comparable to "fresh dog feces" when mature, is edible in its immature "egg" stage. Native to Asia, and is also found in Australia, Europe and North America, where it is probably an introduced species. It has been used medicinally in China as an ulcer remedy.
Found in my backyard in moist garden mulch after many days of rain. In Australia it grows mainly in the tropics and subtropics, in areas where rotten wood and/or mulch are present. Plenty of that in my yard, and I'd also spread some fresh manure around the garden. It's most likely that the spores were transported via the manure.
They weren't kidding when they named this one. OMG it is rotten. Another stinkhorn species growing at the same location: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/316... The most obvious difference between the two species is the shape of the stipe. The Lantern Stinkhorn has flat edges along its length, whereas the Red Stinkhorn is completely cylindrical.
Spotted on Aug 18, 2013
Submitted on Aug 19, 2013
4 Comments
LOL Thanks, Lesley. I thought it was my cat too. I'd actually put cow manure around my garden, and then a few of these stinkhorns popped up. I was totally fascinated, and now I want to buy some more cow poo :-)
Thanks for this info, Neil. These stinkhorns have come up for the first time in my garden and I have been blaming next door's cat for the smell. Nice to know what they are.
Cheers, Skinner. Not too shoddy for a pocket camera.
Beautiful photography