The mycologists among you will know that this is a post about the Stinkhorn Mushroom.
We were on the lookout for them during one of our dog walks.
I sent P on ahead. He has a nose for these sort of things. He stops every so often and sniffs the air like a Bisto Kid.
"There's one around here somewhere" he proclaims" or a dead animal..."
The fungi are quite difficult to spot but we saw some last year and know roughly where to look.
And there it is growing out of the long grass., a perfect specimen of a Stinkhorn mushroom. It's Latin name is Phallis impudicus. It's the sort of thing that sends 10 year olds into nervous giggles.
The foul smell is produced by a slime and attracts lots of insects especially flies. They then disperse the stinkhorn spores and the life cycle continues.
And if you're really lucky there's some dung flies on the mushroom, attracted by the smell of um...rotting flesh. What a lovely topic!
And if you catch them at the right stage of smelly decomposition the top of the mushroom is covered with flies. How many can you count?
Not a lot of people know this but I find bugs fascinating (except for house spiders with their long creepy legs and nasty habit of appearing when least expected) and close-ups of them in particular.
So if you are of a delicate disposition or couldn't bear to watch Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" , look away now!
The Dung fly in glorious detail!
Not one to saute in butter and garlic! Our neighbour had a couple in their garden (alongside our fence) which provided Liv and their dog Hamish with some excitement earlier this summer. If P can sniff out stinkhorns, how is he with truffles?
ReplyDeleteLovely... don't know why but thought your post title was funny. I'm from the country so no probs reading through the post, quite interesting. All those flies on the mushroom - yuck, but some good photos none the less. All the best, Kelli.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen a mushroom like this. A little yucky, but quite fascinating, too.
ReplyDeletePerlease - what were you thinking off confronting me with those disgusting flies, I thought my wasps in the apples was bad enough. Mind you the photos were excellent, despite the content.
ReplyDeleteDoes one use a zoom lens for this photography? I never heard of this mushroom either. Need to get you some hazardous reporting pay.
ReplyDeleteThe Stinkhorn starts off as a white egg-shaped growth from which the growing horn emerges. It is said to be edible at the egg stage - I am not inclined to try it!
ReplyDeleteAmazing macro of the dung fly ... you should join Macro Friday and share it there. That is quite the mushroom you found. I'll have to pull the mushroom book off the shelf and find out more about it.
ReplyDeleteI think we'll have to get a pet pig to find the truffles, Pen.
ReplyDeleteMost people would probably find these mushrooms fairly yuck. Not helped by the smell. I don't have much of a sense of smell so I can get up close for macro shots.
I use a Canon Ixus 70 which does pretty good close ups. We are thinking of upgrading to an SLR with all the bits and pieces.
I do believe it is used in Chinese cookery. Yuck. Hope I didn't put anyone off their food!
I keep looking but have yet to find a stinkhorn of any type. I did find some white worm corals and a patch of coral slime today though.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the dung fly and the fly covered shroom.
Customer to the waiter: Waiter, there is fly in my soup.
ReplyDeleteWaiter: I wonder what it's doing there?
Customer: the back stroke.
How else does one respond to a post about flies, other than a silly old joke. The last photo really is pretty amazing.
Perhaps I should have started with a joke or maybe a health warning.
ReplyDeleteEntertaining post Janet, the final image is shockingly fantastic!
ReplyDeleteBertie
Interesting post...very informative! Your final photo was not disturbing...you made it palatable.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad people didn't find the last photo too off putting. I think we should look closely at all creatures not just the pretty ones.
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of species of Stinkhorn here. One that looks like the one you pictured and another one that is orange that looks sort of like an upside down crown. Not too fond of them! lol
ReplyDeleteI seen photos of the stinkhorn like the upside down crown. Very strange indeed.
ReplyDeleteHi Janet. There seem to be a lot of stinkhorns around this year....Inspired by your post, I took a little wander around the web and found that Darwin's grandaughter used to burn them in secret to preserve purity of thought among her female servants....There's also a striking collection of pictures in the Stinkhorn hall of fame at mushroomexpert.com
ReplyDeleteI think you enjoyed yourself doing this post! Super photos as usual and really interesting. Toadstools are a sure sign that autumn is on the way, goodbye summer!
ReplyDeleteKininvie, Thanks for that interesting titbit about Darwins grandaughter. Would she ever have known if it worked? Thanks for the link. I am hopeless at Fungi ID apart from the obvious and therefore we only eat chantarelles.
ReplyDeleteIt was a whole lot of fun doing this post!
ah Janet, this is one great Autumn wonder I have never seen. I can understand the connection between the purity of thought burning ritual given the phallic form and the attraction of flies. That aside, loved all the info and the divine macro -
ReplyDeleteI loved this post~I am no longer bothered by most bugs~although, the slimy larva can occasionally get to me! gail
ReplyDeleteThe Victorians were so superstitous! What a gem of information. I find most insects fascination except as I said for the dreaded house spider, scuttling across the floor. yuck!
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos Janet - though I can think of quite a few people rather older than 10 who would find a lot to giggle about...
ReplyDelete