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Common stinkhorn
Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via iNaturalist

Mushrooms & bracket fungi

Common stinkhorn

Phallus impudicus L.

Names

EnglishCommon stinkhorn
DutchGrote stinkzwam
SpanishFalo hediondo
Chinese白鬼笔
Sranan Tongopopolipo (general name for the group)
Scientific namePhallus impudicus L.

About this species

Phallus impudicus, known colloquially as the common stinkhorn, is a widespread species of fungus in the Phallaceae (stinkhorn) family. It is recognizable for its foul odor and its phallic shape when mature, the latter feature giving rise to several names in 17th-century England.

It is a common mushroom in Europe and North America, where it occurs in habitats rich in wood debris, such as forests and mulched gardens. It appears from summer to late autumn. The fruiting structure is tall and white with a slimy, dark olive colored conical head. Known as the gleba, this material contains the spores, and is transported by insects which are attracted by the odor—described as resembling carrion.

Despite its foul smell, it is not usually poisonous and immature mushrooms are consumed cooked on their own or feature as an ingredient in cuisines of parts of the Czech Republic, France and Germany.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomFungi
PhylumBasidiomycota
ClassAgaricomycetes
OrderPhallales
FamilyPhallaceae
GenusPhallus

Related species in Suriname