From: John or Jan Lahr (johnjan@lahr.org)
Date: Sat Oct 23 2004 - 13:00:56 PDT
Message-Id: <6.1.1.1.2.20041023134336.02233bf8@mail.comcast.net> Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 14:00:56 -0600 From: John or Jan Lahr <johnjan@lahr.org> Subject: Re: Mysterious Thing
Thanks for everyone's feedback on the "thing" that I found growing in my front
yard! I've posted some added pictures here:
http://jclahr.com/science/biology/
along with a message kindly send by Vera Evenson of the Denver Botanic
Gardens. Karen Schoen and Melissa Graviss also identified it correctly.
Prior to their messages I was leaning toward Raleigh's suggestion that it
had "escaped from a school cafeteria, perhaps on 'mystery meat' day."
The answer is that it's a stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, mushroom! I had
no idea that a mushroom could look like an egg prior to "sprouting."
Cheers,
John
>X-Originating-IP: [209.123.233.211]
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>Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:08:38 -0600
>From: "Vera Evenson"
>Subject: mushroom in yard
>
>Dear John,
>
>Your query about an interesting organism growing in your yard has been
>referred to me. I am the mycologist here at Denver Botanic Gardens.
>
> >From your great pictures I can definitely tell you that you have a
>stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, in all its interesting stages. The main
>body of the fungus grows underground and unseen in your yard throughout
>the year. There it is busy breaking down organic matter in the soil and
>grasses and does a good job of recycling nutrients. When conditions are
>just right, a jelly-filled "egg" is formed, usually colored
>lavender-pink. Then a white stalk emerges from the egg and rises
>several inches high. Its tip eventually is covered with an odiferous
>slimy substance full of spores. The smell is somewhat like rotted meat
>and of course collects flies. By walking around on the slime the flies
>spread the spores to other gardens by inadvertently rubbing their feet
>in the slime and then onto grasses, etc. The stinkhorn is not poisonous
>(in fact, the eggs are a delicacy in China!) and does no harm to
>anything in your yard, except perhaps your sense of smell!
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