What's That Smell??

Recently, while leading a hike down the Discovery Center's Interpretive Trail, we came upon a fungus I had never seen.  At first glance, I thought it was a discarded cigarette. When I went to pick it up, I realized that was quite the wrong first impression.  It was, indeed, a fungus! 

I held it up for the group, and that is when we noticed it….the smell of rotting meat (and dare I say, poop!).  I quickly looked it up in my guide and we identified it as Stinkhorn fungus.  It had a skinny, spongy body & a slimy brown tip.  Come to find, the tip is the foul smelling part (at least to us); however it proves quite attractive to insects.  These insects visit the smelly tip, and then carry off the fungi's reproductive spores. 

Stinkhorn fungi are found on the ground or on rotten wood (we found this one on a rotting Aspen tree), and grow August-October. Look closely at this photograph and you will notice an American carrion beetle near the tip -- we ID'ed at least four others around the fungus.  What a cool find and fun to learn together about an organism new to us all!

Photo by Licia Johnson - Discovery Center Staff.