The Indecent Growth Record-Breaker
I invite you to get acquainted with this indecent mushroom, which surprises in many ways. Its indecency is attested not only by the name given to it by the old man C. Linnaeus, Latin PHALLUS IMPUDICUS, which means "shameless phallus." And the mushroom truly reflects the name given to it by its shape. In Lithuanian, it is called more modestly - COMMON STINKHORN, though wait - PONIABUDĖ (LADY-BUD), so it's like waking up ladies? Ha-ha, I would love for that to be true! Such a folksy, subtly mischievous thing. But the word "budė" just means "mushroom." Well, at least the word "lady" is incorporated.
But let's start from the beginning - from the egg. In one of the photos, you see a muddy egg sitting on the ground, which strongly resembles a young puffball, which also likes to look like that when young. But if you poke it with your finger, you'll feel that it's not firm (as a puffball would be); it's rather soft. To understand if it's truly a Stinkhorn egg, you'll have to cut it open. And what you find inside is very surprising (watch the photos and video)! Inside that egg, we find the young fruiting body of the stinkhorn, safely maturing surrounded by a slimy mass, which makes the egg soft. Then it's time to smell it! The smell will truly surprise you, as it will smell of radishes! When it's time to hatch, this phallus can emerge from the egg in just an hour (!!!) and shoot into the world in all its glory. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is truly not the usual speed of mushroom growth. Usually, a mushroom needs several days, but the stinkhorn grows incredibly fast, 10-15 cm per hour! The whole secret is that the entire fruiting body is already fully formed inside that egg, and the cells only need to stretch. This means that the mushroom doesn't need to grow more new cells once it emerges. There are many stories of these phalluses suddenly shooting up in royal gardens and making ladies blush with embarrassment.
Continuing, the emerged and elongated stinkhorn looks like the mushroom in the picture with a dark green cap, on which there is a layer of slimy mass with spores. At the bottom of the stem, you will still see remnants of the egg and slime. At this stage, the phallus no longer smells of radishes - it begins to reek of carrion or other unpleasant smells.
Hence the English name for this mushroom, STINKHORN. In this way, the stinkhorn displays itself and invites flies and various insects to feast on the slime with spores. This is how the mushroom, with the help of these diners, spreads its spores around the world. By the way, there's another trick - since the mushroom is already growing in a good spot, there's no need for it to spread its spores far to discover new territories. The slimy spore mass is enriched with laxative substances, so flies that have eaten the pungent spores don't fly far because it upsets their stomachs and they have to spread the spores right there. When all the slime is eaten, the stinkhorn's cap remains lighter in color and somewhat resembles a morel.
You're probably wondering - is it edible? Well, yes, it is. In some parts of China and other countries, the eggs are even sold as a delicacy (called "devil's eggs"). We once didn't mind trying the white part inside the egg uncooked - well, it was quite tasty, we decided. The taste was similar to a radish. And it's no wonder that such an audacious mushroom has accumulated various legends about itself - from beauties anointing themselves with its slimy mass, wanting to look young forever, to all sorts of tinctures for cancer and other diseases. And of course, due to its shape, it probably seemed to many that it could also help support masculine strength.
