30 Bizarre and Beautiful Mushrooms
Dog Stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus)
Columnal dog stinkhorn mushroom growing in patch of grass
Nick Harris1 / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
The dog stinkhorn starts as an egglike fruiting body hidden in leaf litter in soils, and when the egg splits, the mushroom becomes a strange-looking brown-tipped rod, yellow to pink in color. The mushroom expands to its full height within just a few hours.2 The tip of the columnal fungus is covered in a smelly spore-bearing slime that attracts insects, which help to disperse the spores. Dog stinkhorns are found in Europe, Asia, and eastern North America.
Columnal dog stinkhorn mushroom growing in patch of grass
Nick Harris1 / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0
The dog stinkhorn starts as an egglike fruiting body hidden in leaf litter in soils, and when the egg splits, the mushroom becomes a strange-looking brown-tipped rod, yellow to pink in color. The mushroom expands to its full height within just a few hours.2 The tip of the columnal fungus is covered in a smelly spore-bearing slime that attracts insects, which help to disperse the spores. Dog stinkhorns are found in Europe, Asia, and eastern North America.
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18 December 2022
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