Aseroe rubra (Anemone Stinkhorn Fungus)Aseroe rubra – Before and after
The Aseroe rubra look quite different before it matures. As the spores develop and grow, they appear as a partly buried whitish-brown egg-shaped structure (about 3 cm in diameter).
They then bursts open as a hollow white stalk with reddish arms radiating from the centre (a star-shape structure), with six to ten arms (up to 4 cm long). These arms are bifid (divided by a deep cleft into two parts).
It is the top of the fungus (covered with dark brown-black slime or gleba (the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi) which produces the smell of rotting meat.
Footnote & References
- Anemone Stinkhorn Fungus (Aseroe rubra) © Michael Jefferies, Flickr
- Aseroe rubra Labill., Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/fungi/60100587
- Anemone Stinkhorn Fungus (Aseroe rubra), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/381310-Aseroe-rubra
- Aseroe rubra, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aseroe_rubra
Aseroe rubra (Anemone Stinkhorn Fungus)Aseroe rubra – Before and after
FungaAseroe rubra (Anemone Stinkhorn Fungus) Podaxis pistillaris (Desert Shaggy Mane) False Shaggy Mane Leucocoprinus fragilissimus (Fragile Dapperling)