Just a warning: This post contains earthy subjects that range from phalic imagry to canine genitalia references. You have been warned.
Now, I like fungi. I like mushrooms, and all sorts of squishy or hard alien growths that can be found in the woods, or in your flower pot. They are just too strange not to like. But sometimes my relationship with fungi is a little strained. This year at the end of summer we had a growth in the mulch around our flowers that tempted me to make an exception. The name is *Mutinus caninus*, and is also known as Dog Stinkhorn. These stink horns generally look like a horn, growing right out of the ground, and have a sticky bit at the top that contains spores, and attracts bugs. Well, the Dog Stinkhorn looks rather like the name would imply and bears a strinking resemblance to a dog penis. Have a look:
While that is gross enough, the smell that it emits is like strong.. hmm, how do I put this.. prostatic, or maybe seminal fluid. So not only do we have these little dog penises sticking out of the ground around our flowers, it *smells* like we have little penises sticking out of the ground around our flowers. Oddly enough, nothing seemed to be attracted to the spore slime…
So, what do I do? The obvious…
Yes, I pick one up. I pick everything up, my brothers can tell you that. I even smelled it, and it smelled just as bad close up. The “fruiting body” as it is called in the reference books, is hollow, and is usually this bright pinky-orange color. The brown slime at the tip attracts flies in this species, and usually only lasts a few hours because the flies eat it. No flies this time. Eventually the nasty things shriveled up, and the smell went away, but the scar on our idilic view of nature will always remain.
That was my first run-in with stinkhorns, and I quickly read up on them. They are a very odd bunch. Others have blogged about them, and a few others have dedicated whole pages to them.
A more scientific approach can be found here.
My apologies if you did not heed the warning.
Makes me glad for the inky caps. Though they can look phallic when they are young (growing tall and narrow and flush with the ground) they 1) don’t smell bad 2) stop looking phallic 3) don’t have grody goo (or at least have bearably grody goo) and 4) taste good.
Now if only more would grow so I could cook some…
I couldn’t stop laughing at this post! Blechhh! Nathan, they are edible?? Double blechhhh.
They are edible. I wrote last wek on my own blog about trying the inky caps (shaggy manes.) I made a mushroom soup with sherry tonight from them, and it was delicious.
I realized that my comment was fairly strong… in response to the descriptive nature of the subject. After reading this entry, I don’t think I could very easily enjoy a soup made of mutinus caninus. Especially after seeing the picture of the flys all over it sucking up the stinky goo. In defense of the fungi, the vibrant orange color is quite beautiful.
Nice! I’m so glad you posted about the phallic fungi. My family will always have our best laugh over something phallic such as that. I am quite disturbed, though, at how striking the resemblance is to a dog’s. Happy hunting, Daniel.
Gretchen: Your response was quite appropriate, and Nathan was talking about making soup out of “Shaggy Mane” ink caps, a very different fungus. All the places that talk about *Mutinus Caninus* being edible quickly assert that it is the young button that is considered a delicacy in some asian countries. I don’t think many folks go for the mature “fruiting body”.
Nathan: I picked up about 25-30 Shaggy Mane yesterday! I cooked them up and froze them for a good winter mushroom soup. Very tasty! I may continue hunting for fields of them to pack a way for winter. Now to figure out how to get the ink off the front seat of my car…
Thanks for the education! I had never heard of that o ne, or seen it! I am convinced that God enjoys humor, and places a lot of funny stuff around for us to find amusing! This has got to be one of them! Dad and I both find the anthurium flower sort of in the same class…
Yes, they do seem to be of the same ilk (or ick, I suppose).