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Dictyophora duplicata Netted stinkhorn, wood witch
Stinkhorns are about as unusual as fungi get, and that is more than unusual enough for me. They are North American natives. Identification: Whoever coined the name "stinkhorn" wasn't kidding—these can clear out a room. They smell like rotting meat, attracting flies which pick up and distribute some of the spores. Flowers, of course, use a similar strategy to achieve pollination (thankfully relying mostly on scents that are attractive to people), but very few fungi are able to do this. Mature fruiting bodies are 1½-6" (4-15 cm) in height. The caps of stinkhorns are black to olive-brown, oval in shape, slimy, pitted (like morels), with a white ring at the top. The overall effect is phallic. A netlike veil or skirt emerges from under the cap. The veil may appear attached directly to the stalk, or hang loosely around it. Here is a time lapse movie of the mushroom's fruiting cycle. Online References:
Tom Volk's Fungi site, at the Department of Biology at the University of Wisconsin Michael Kuo's MushroomExpert.com The Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association The Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Plant Pathology (a time lapse movie) References:
Barron, George, Mushrooms of Northeast North America, Lone Pine Publishing, 1999, p. 99 Arora, David, Mushrooms Demystified, Ten Speed Press, 1986, p. 770
Dictyophora duplicata description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.
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7/29/2023 · Scheelite Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, Arizona · By John W. Kent
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ID is uncertain 