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NE Florida ID help


Clyde

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Hello to all. I noticed this strange item when searching for the source of a strong odor near my carport. This is where the odor is from...rotting, acrid , a little sweet complex smell. This came up under old azaleas with pine straw and last years cypress mulch

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Definitely a species of Clatharus. But I'm not convinced these are C. ruber, which I *think* is the species called "Caged Stinkhorn". Another species to consider is C. columnatus   http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clathrus_columnatus.html . Note how this species forms an enclosure composed of several more-or-less vertically aligned "arms" joined only at the apices. C. ruber features horizontal/diagonal connections between the arms  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrus_ruber .  I'm certainly not very confident about proposing one species over the other. Just mentioning the possibilities and the relevant details. Either C. ruber or C. columnatus looks like the best possibility to me. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Cleaning up the yard of leaves, etc and found another of the stinkhorns this morning under the azalea. Looked to still be opening. The brown/gray film of spore mass is intact and not so smelly unless disturbed. 

Two hours later something has partiality eaten the fruit. Same thing happened with the first two. Yum. 

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Ha! Spores of some stinkhorns are spread by insects that feast on them... Maybe also small mammals? There are types of mushroom spores that only germinate after passing through the digestive tract of a squirrel or other animal. 

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