Little Red Stinkhorn

Description

The little red stinkhorn is a strange, slender fungus that grows out of a white, smooth egg about 2 cm across. From the egg emerges a cylindrical column, hollow inside, usually 6–7 cm tall, narrowing towards the top and pointed. The lower part is whitish with a raspberry tinge, the upper part intensely raspberry-coloured and covered with an olive-green, slimy mass.

It grows from June to November on humus-rich ground: in parks, gardens, nurseries, near rubbish dumps and in thickets, especially under willows, rarely in forests. It often appears in towns and cities. It comes from North America and in Poland it is an alien species.

You can recognise it by its shape and its smell: the slimy mass at the top stinks of carrion or faeces and attracts flies. Similar stinkhorn species are hard to tell apart without experience. It is inedible.

Identification features

Cap

No typical cap. The young fruiting body is egg-shaped, about 2 × 1.5 cm, enclosed in a white, smooth peridium. The developing receptacle breaks through the peridium; sometimes a piece of the torn peridium remains on the tip like a small cap. The tip of the receptacle is pointed and covered with a slimy, olive-green spore mass (gleba), sometimes with a small opening at the apex.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

No gills, tubes or spines. The hymenium forms the fertile part of the receptacle in its upper portion, strongly raspberry-coloured, covered with an olive-green, slimy gleba with a strong, very unpleasant smell.

Stem

Receptacle (pseudostipe) cylindrical, 6–7 cm tall, exceptionally up to 10 cm, about 1 cm thick; base slightly narrowed, tip pointed. Hollow inside. The lower, sterile part is whitish with a raspberry tinge, sometimes entirely white; the upper, fertile part is intensely raspberry-coloured.

Flesh

The receptacle is hollow inside. The spore mass gives off a strong smell reminiscent of faeces or rotting meat. The flesh should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

The spores are contained in the olive-green, slimy mass at the top of the fruiting body. Spores smooth, ellipsoid, 4–6 × 1–3 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph, grows on the ground in humus-rich places: in parks and gardens, forest nurseries, on polluted scrub and near rubbish dumps, rarely in forests and thickets (especially under willows). The smell attracts carrion-feeding insects, whose legs the spores stick to; the insects carry them over long distances.

Distribution. A synanthropic species native to North America, expanding its range. First recorded in Europe in Germany in 1943; now widely distributed, and also found in New Zealand. In Poland first observed in Kraków in 1965 (damp places, humus-rich soil), and in natural habitats in 1987 in Kampinos National Park. Often found in towns and cities. In Poland it is an alien species, not legally protected.

Fruiting. From June to November.

What can it be confused with?

• Mutinus elegans — Sometimes confused with it; distinguishing features require confirmation by a mycologist.
• Mutinus caninus — Sometimes confused with it; distinguishing features require confirmation by a mycologist.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• It was first found in Europe in Germany in 1943, and in Poland in Kraków in 1965.
• In Poland it was initially considered rare and placed under strict protection, but after it was established to be an alien species it was removed from the list of protected fungi in 2004.
• The species was first described in 1853 by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis, who named it Corynites ravenelii.
• The fruiting bodies are eagerly eaten by dogs, without harm to their health.