STINKHORN MUSHROOM; BEAUTIFUL IN ITS OWN WAY

STINKHORN MUSHROOM...

ABOUT 9" HIGH...FRUITING BODY READY TO RELEASE SPORES

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 62 on the back porch.  Wind SSE, calm with occasional light gusts.  The sky is cloudy and overcast after a thunderstorm again last night, the humidity is 87%.  The barometer has bottomed out and is beginning to rise, now standing at 29.65".  Today's high will be around 70, with a chance of another thundershower. Tomorrow should be clear, with more thunderstorms again Thursday through Monday.
   Of all terrestrial living things, there are few more mysterious and occult than mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of fungal mycelia that are microscopic and seldom seen in any  other way. Since some mushrooms are edible and very good,  others are deadly poisonous, and many are hallucinogenic, they have always been the creatures of fairy tales, witches plots and the occult.
   Enter one of the most famously, grossly weird mushrooms; the stinkhorn, Order Phallales, family Phallacaea; I won't try to identify this thing I found in a neighbor's yard any further than that.  I have only seen a few stinkhorns, none of them looked alike, and certainly none like this one.  Note the pore at the top from which the spores are dispersed (insects are attracted to the stench it emits and spread the spores).  I don't know if this thing is poisonous, but I doubt anyone would consider eating it anyway.
   Of course, as the song states, everything is beautiful, in its own way.