Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Mushroom a yard's unwelcome guest

I won't forget the first time I saw a stinkhorn mushroom in the flesh. It was one of those remember-when-and-where moments.

Not long after I became a master gardener, a friend called me to her house to look at a foul thing growing in her front garden. I did not know what it was, so I immediately called Gary Forrester, my teacher and mentor at the Clemson Extension. I thought identification of the strange growth might just challenge him. Typically, Gary knew what it was, and with the slightest chuckle in his voice, educated me to the fact that the mystery life form was a stinkhorn mushroom.

Stinkhorn mushrooms are attention getters because of the distinctive way they look and smell. The mushrooms are showy in their often phallic shape and bright colors. They also grab our notice because they emit an odor best described as the fetid smell of carrion or dog feces.

We find the mushrooms during a warm, moist summer and especially during fall weather in cultivated areas. Stinkhorns get their nutrients from dead and decaying plant material. Specifically, they live on hardwood mulch, wood chips, dead tree roots and composted soil.

Stinkhorns are a family of mushrooms which are part of the fungi kingdom. All stinkhorns arise from an egg-like structure, grow spongy stems and offer up a spore-filled mass of olive-brown slime on their tips or stalks.

Stinkhorn mushrooms emerge from egg-like balls that are partially to fully buried in mulch or compost. The mushrooms unexpectedly pop out of the egg-like base, and, depending on species, in fewer than 10 hours, grow to a height of up to 10 inches.

In the Southeast, two common species of this widespread mushroom family make themselves instantly noticeable --one has a cap-like head, the other a red tip. Olive-brown spore-filled slime covers the head or tip, and often the stem as well.

Another locally found stinkhorn species, commonly called a stinky squid, sends up a short stalk from its egg. The stem sends three to five tentacle-like arms upward. Typical spore-laden slime covers the inside of the arms. Although the arms are red-orange, connecting or not at the top of the structure, the fungus does resemble a squid.

Flies and beetles are attracted to the slime's fetid stench, land on it, eat it and fly off to new places carrying spores that have stuck to their legs.

As disgusting as stinkhorn mushrooms look and smell, none are known to be poisonous. In fact, the Chinese remove the slime in the egg-like structure and eat the fleshy part as a health aid and aphrodisiac.

Regardless, you will likely want to rid your yard of any stinkhorns you find. To do that, wear a disposable glove and pluck up all the egg-like structures and mushrooms. Put the fungus in a bag along with your used glove and throw it all away. That will prevent further spread of the spores and their subsequent development. Remove, bag and throw away the mulch where you found the stinkhorns. More stinkhorn spores probably linger in that mulch.

You can not prevent stinkhorn spores from landing in your yard in the future. If you are extreme enough about preventing their advent and development, replace your wood and bark mulch with pine straw or inorganic mulch.