WHAT IS A STINKHORN?

"The stinkhorns are basidiomycetes and are relatives of the puffballs, but they differ from the puffballs in that they carry their spores on their outside surface, on a stalked cap covered with slime. As these fungi make their spores, they begin to stink to high heaven, emitting an odor that flies find as attractive as that of rotting flesh. To the flies these mushrooms are good places for laying eggs. When the flies land on the cap of a stickhorn, they ingest the spores or pick them up on their legs and other body parts and carry them to distant sites..."

The stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) develops in a few hours from the "egg" stage to the malodorous mature form that attracts insects. From left to right, the intervals are: 11:00 p.m., 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 12:00 noon. Figure created by John D. Woolsey.

"People react strongly to stinkhorns not just on account of their smell. Some members of this group have a startling resemblance to the human penis, others to the penis of the dog. Surely this combination of attributes has helped this group of funguses, the Phallales, earn a prominent, if disreputable, place in the history of mushrooms and human affairs. Hardly any type of fungus has produced a greater reaction than the stinkhorns. Imagine a well-bred person of the Victorian era finding in the woods a phallic-looking object with a green cap, covered with flies, and emanating an unspeakable stench. Small wonder the sight inspired strange beliefs. Stinkhorns have been associated with all manner of misery and mischief. They have been called devil's eggs ("Daemonum ova") and have been blamed for witchcraft, cholera epidemics, and untold other disasters...."

"Stinkhorns are mentioned by the earliest western writers, Pliny the Elder among them. The first booklet written on any specific kind of mushroom was in fact about stinkhorns, published in Holland in 1562."

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The woodcuts of fungi are from Theatrum Fungorum oft Het Tooneel der Campernoelien by Franciscus von Sterbeeck (Antwerp: Joseph Jacobs, 1675). Permission has been granted by the Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts for their use.

CAUTION: This book (and this online feature) is not intended as a recipe book or an identification guide. There are risks involved in consuming wild mushrooms. To minimize them you must obtain positive identification of each specimen. Even with proper identification, the possibility exists that the consumer may be allergic to a mushroom, or that the mushroom may in some way be anomalous. The author has been conscientious in his efforts to alert the reader to potential hazards of consuming wild mushrooms, but the reader must accept full responsibility for deciding to consume any particular specimen. Descriptions of medicinal uses of mushrooms given in this book (and on this online feature) are for educational purposes only. The author is not recommending the use of mushrooms for self-medication. Always consults a physician about such use.