Fungi encyclopedia
A reference for the fungi you actually find
Each entry describes one species the way you meet it in the field — the cap and its surface, what sits underneath, the stipe and its base, the spore print colour, the substrate it fruits from, and the species most often confused with it.
Fast-growing, slime-covered, fly-dispersed
Anemone Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A scarlet stinkhorn that hatches from a white egg into a starfish-like ring of forked arms surrounding a disc of dark, fly-attracting slime.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Bamboo Fungus
Stinkhorns
A tropical stinkhorn whose white spongy stalk carries a pitted, slime-covered conical head and, beneath it, a spectacular lacy net that hangs down like a skirt. It erupts from a soft white egg in bamboo litter.
Spore print · Not applicable — olive-brown spore slime
Common Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A white hollow spongy stalk topped by a thimble-shaped, deeply pitted head coated in olive-green spore slime, emerging from a partly buried white egg. Its powerful odour attracts flies long before it is seen.
Spore print · Olive-brown (in gleba slime)
Devil's Dipstick
Stinkhorns
A slim, tapering, orange to pinkish stinkhorn with no distinct cap, its pointed upper third coated in dark olive spore slime. It rises from a white egg in mulch and rotting hardwood debris.
Spore print · Not applicable
Basket Fungus
Stinkhorns
A white latticed sphere of spongy arms that hatches from a gelatinous egg and, uniquely, detaches at maturity so the whole basket can be rolled about by wind.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Columned Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A warm-climate stinkhorn built from two to five thick orange columns that are free at the base and joined in an arch at the top, with dark spore slime on the inner faces of the arch.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Devil's Fingers
Stinkhorns
A stinkhorn that hatches from a pale egg and unfurls four to eight scarlet arms, initially joined at the tips and then splayed outward, blotched inside with dark olive spore slime.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Dog Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A slim, delicate stinkhorn whose tapering pale stalk ends in an orange tip smeared with dark spore slime. It has no separate cap, which distinguishes it from the larger Phallus species.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)
Dune Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A stinkhorn of sand dunes and light soils, rising from a distinctly violet to pinkish-lilac egg on pink cords. The white stalk carries a pitted, honeycombed head coated in olive spore slime.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)
Elegant Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A slender, unbranched stinkhorn that rises from a white egg as a tapering orange-to-pink spike, its upper third coated in dark olive slime. Common in mulched beds and rich leaf litter across eastern North America.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Lantern Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
Recognisable by its distinctly ribbed, angular stalk that ends in a cluster of short arms fused into a lantern-like point, with dark spore slime on the inner arm faces.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Netted Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A stout North American stinkhorn that hangs a short, coarse white net from beneath its pitted head. The veil reaches only partway down the thick spongy stalk.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)
Ravenel's Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A North American stinkhorn with a nearly smooth, granular head rather than the honeycombed network of its relatives, rising from a pinkish-purple egg on sawdust and wood chips.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)
Red Cage
Stinkhorns
A startling stinkhorn that hatches from a whitish egg as a hollow, spherical cage of coral-red spongy arms, with dark olive spore slime lining the inner faces of the mesh.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Red Cage Fungus
Stinkhorns
A stinkhorn that emerges from a white egg as a hollow, red, net-like sphere, its inner arms smeared with olive-brown spore slime. It is common in mulched garden beds and disturbed ground in warm-temperate regions.
Spore print · Not applicable
Stalked Lattice Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns
A tall stinkhorn with a slender whitish stalk carrying a globose, orange-red latticed head whose mesh spaces are filled with dark olive spore slime.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Starfish Fungus
Stinkhorns
A stinkhorn shaped like a sea anemone: a hollow pale stalk expands into a red disc fringed with forked arms, with dark olive spore slime pooled in the centre.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Stinky Squid
Stinkhorns
A small stinkhorn with three or four tapering orange arms that rise from a short pale stalk and meet at the top, dark olive spore slime coating their inner faces.
Spore print · Not applicable (olive-brown gleba)
Veiled Lady
Stinkhorns
The most spectacular stinkhorn, with a delicate white lace veil that unfurls from beneath the conical head and may hang almost to the ground. A tropical and subtropical species of rich soil and bamboo litter.
Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)