365 Urban Species. #175: Dog Stinkhorn

[urbpan]

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: the Riverway, near Longwood ave, Brookline. The rain has washed the spores off this specimen, and caused it to sag.

Urban species #175: Dog stinkhorn Mutinus caninus

Nature produces an infinite variety of wondrous forms, elegant and grotesque. Some are even difficult to describe with polite language. The dog stinkhorn is one of these. Named for its remarkable resemblance to a canine penis, and possessing a truly rank odor, it seems engineered to offend the senses. There are other phallic stinkhorns, somewhat more human-like in appearance, that so offended the sensibility of people in the Victorian era, that they were deliberately persecuted.

Of course, Nature isn't interested in offending us. Just as She did not mean for us to share the bee's delight in the scent of a rose, She does not intend to revolt us with the reek of the stinkhorn. Rather, the smell evolved because it is a successful attractant to the flies that spread the spores of this fungus. The phallus is a shape that elevates the gooey spore mass above the well-decomposed woodchips or leaf litter in which the fungus usually grows. The lurid red color...well, that I can't explain, but it sure makes it look like a dog's penis.


Masses of spores appear as a greenish substance coating the stinkhorns.

Comments

[broken-angel.livejournal.com]

Whew. I'm glad I'm not just sick for thinking "whoah that looks like a penis."

[shadefell.livejournal.com]

It also kind of looks like a claw or some sort.

Or... a... penis claw?

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

BEETLEJUICE FINGERS!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! XD

[drocera.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Now that's one of the most offensive looking fungus's I've ever laid eyes on! Dog penis *shiver*

PENISCLAW

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

Now THERE'S a great name for a band.

[mellawyrden.livejournal.com]

I now want an entire garden full of stinkhorns. Where have they been all my life? what is the smell like?

Re: PENISCLAW

[mellawyrden.livejournal.com]

omfg you actually made me spit out my tea when I read that.

Re: PENISCLAW

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

;)

[indefinitetheca.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU!!!!! i find that around the zoo all the time and it smells so bad nd looks weird and now i know what it is. omg i feel good now thank you. my night was going great, now it is going awesome

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

last year? on a mushroom walk, we found some of these. if you pop them out of the ground, they have an edible inner "nugget". well, at least the one we found did. tasted like radish.

#

[momomom.livejournal.com]

This is the topper of the year. Oh my GOD! I too am glad, glad, glad I am not the only sickie to see the dog penis first glance. All that and stink too? EWwwwww

[indefinitetheca.livejournal.com]

the best i can describe is wet dog and mildew it is an odd smell

[kellyratherodd.livejournal.com]

I saw some sort of tropical coral at first glance. Yet again I'm more innocent than I thought.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

omg. WAY worse than wet dog and mildew - i kind of like both of those smells.

kinda smells like a dead thing mixed with ass.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

thank you thank you thank you!

nature rocks. and my prurient interest is easily aroused.

[punkydolly.livejournal.com]

When I was little the woods near my home were full of what us kids called 'smelly willies', probably "phallus impudicans". The rancid stench of these things and their resemblance to a penis thrilled us no end, we'd dare each other to touch them and scream about it for hours on end if anyone did...

hi

[(Anonymous)]

I just found a pair of them yesterday here at the office garden and are stinky you can`t help, both were lay down but this morning another pair grew up how cant I get rid of them!any advice
carlos_chdz@hotmail.com

Re: hi

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I don't know why you'd want to, frankly! I think they are much cooler than any cultivated garden plant.

You need to replace the substrate that they are growing in; Probably wood chips or mulch.

penis

[(Anonymous)]

not only does it look like a penis...but the interesting smell definitely reminds me of penis juice...jiz that iz

[(Anonymous)]

I found one of these this morning in our back yard. It had a white tip on top and just below the tip was a slimy smelly green goo. One of our dogs discovered it. She didn't sniff it for long. It smelled really bad.