A few weeks ago I was hanging out in my backyard with some friends when we noticed strange egg-like structures sticking out of the ground. “Are these snake eggs?” we wondered, hoping they weren’t. Upon further examination, we realized they were actually a type of fungus!
Initially, I was hesitant as I’d never encountered a mushroom like this before. However, after researching, I learned that these were the immature stages of a stinkhorn mushroom. You might have seen the mature version; they’re distinctive and often appear in mulch, lawns, and bare soil. I have personally seen them in mulched areas of my garden. Stinkhorns are saprophytic fungi, meaning they feed on decaying matter, which is why you see them in mulch and soil. They play an important role as decomposers in the ecosystem.
They can come in a variety of colors, from brown to bright red. Their name comes from the pungent stink they emit, some people describe the smell as that of rotting fish. This unpleasant smell attracts flies and other insects, which help disperse the mushroom’s spores by feeding on the spore-laden slime on its cap. This is a very unique feature, most mushrooms use wind to disperse spores.
The immature stage is attached to the soil by a network of fungal hyphae. The stinkhorn mushroom emerges from its “egg” stage very quickly, sometimes in a matter of minutes. I placed one of these immature fungal structures in a plastic container overnight to bring into a work event the next day, and by the morning, what started as a small white egg, had grown into a pale red stinkhorn mushroom!
These fungi are very short lived but there is no solution for eradication. No fungicides will get rid of them. While you can remove the visible mushrooms, their network of hyphae in the soil or mulch will continue to produce new fruiting structures. Fortunately, stinkhorns are neither poisonous nor harmful to your yard or garden.
What started as a concerning discovery ended up as an opportunity to learn about an interesting fungus. While there are many unique things about stinkhorn mushrooms, they are pretty common here in Georgia. Have you encountered any in your own yard?
For more information check out these publications, https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/stinkhorns/, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP345
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