Clathrus archeri

What You Should Know

Clathrus archeri is a beautiful inedible octopus-like stinkhorn. It grows in 2 distinct stages, first an egg stage followed by the fungal "arms" emerging. During the egg stage, Clathrus archeri forms a white ball-like egg shape. Next, the thallus emerges from the egg in a starfish-like shape with 4-6 arms on average (up to 8). Each arm can grow up to 4.72 inches (12 cm) in length and is coated in gleba on the upper surface. Fruiting bodies produce a red-orange color due to the production of carotenoids. In maturity, it smells like putrid flesh.

This saprotroph mushroom grows best in environments rich in decaying vegetation. It is most common in environments with abundant decaying organic matter: leaf litter, mulch, woodlands, and grasslands. 

The species is believed to be endemic to southern Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but has been spreading to other continents and is often invasive. Clathrus archeri now has a global distribution and has been naturalized in Europe and North America.

Clathrus archeri produces compounds similar to the scent of rotting flesh. This compound production supports evidence of convergent evolution between fungi and angiosperms. This scent is used by the fungus to attract flies to serve as agents for spore dispersal. Clathrus archeri is not known to be toxic, however, consuming this fungus would not be enjoyable.

It could be eaten when young in an egg state, but is often rejected because of its appearance and smell. When dogs eat this fungus in the garden, there is usually no danger to the animal.

Other names: Octopus Stinkhorn, Devil's Fingers, German (Tintenfischpilz ), Netherlands (Inktviszwam), Czech Republic Květnatec (Archerův).

Clathrus archeri Mushroom Identification

1. Immature Fruiting Body

   Like a whitish "egg" up to about 1.97 inches (5 cm) high and 1.57 inches (4 cm) wide; surface spotted and discoloring pinkish brown in places; when sliced revealing the stinkhorn-to-be encased in a brownish gelatinous substance.

2. Mature Fruiting Body

   3.15 to 6.7 inches (8 to 17 cm) high; 1.18 to 1.97 inches (3 to 5 cm) wide at the base; consisting of 4–8 arms that arise from a stemlike structure; arms soon separating and spreading outwards.

3. Arms

   1.18 to 4.72 inches (3 to 12 cm) long; tapered to apices; red on the inner surfaces and slightly paler on the outer surfaces; fading to pink; finely pitted; hollow; spongy.

4. Pseudostem

   Up to about 1.57 inches (4 cm) high, whitish below and pinkish to reddish above, enclosed in a whitish volva and attached to white rhizomorphs.

5. Volva

   Sac-like, encasing the base of the fruiting body; whitish, with brownish spots and discolorations.

6. Spore Slime

   Dark brown to nearly black; covering the inner surfaces of the arms; malodorous.

7. Habitat

   Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously often in urban areas near woody debris, in lawns, gardens, cultivated soil, and so on; fruiting nearly year-round, depending on climate; subtropical, tropical, and Mediterranean climate regions in Oceania, Europe, Asia, eastern Africa, and northern California.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 4.5–6 x 1.5–2 µm; subcylindric; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Sphaerocysts of the pseudostipe 15–30 µm; mostly subglobose; walls about 1 µm thick; hyaline in KOH. Hyphae of the volva 3–7 µm wide; smooth; walls less than 0.5 µm thick; hyaline in KOH; septate; clamp connections not found.

13 Facts About Clathrus archeri

1. Clathrus archeri is a fungus belonging to the Phallaceae family in the Basidiomycota division.

2. The immature fruiting body is egg-shaped, white or pink, and the mature form has 4-8 red arms with black spots.

3. It grows in moist deciduous forests and wet meadows and is frequent in beech and oak forests.

4. It was first described by Pier Antonio Micleli in 1753 and later transferred to the Clathrus genus by Dring in 1980.

5. Reproduction occurs through fragments and involves the participation of insects such as flies and beetles.

6. It is a saprotrophic organism that feeds on decomposing plant matter.

7. C. archeri var. alba with white tentacles or arms has been reported from the Shola Forests in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India.

8. Clathrus archeri produces white and fluffy mycelium that eventually turns pink.

9. Grows best in environments rich in decaying vegetation and commonly found in leaf litter and mulch.

10. Clathrus archeri prefers high moisture, oxygen, neutral pH, and low-medium temperatures.

11. Clathrus archeri is believed to be endemic to southern Africa, New Zealand, and Australia but has a global distribution.

12. Not toxic but not edible due to its putrid smell.

Clathrus archeri Taxonomy and Etymology

British mycologist Myles Joseph Berkeley described the species in 1860 and gave it the scientific name Lysurus archeri.

The generic name Clathrus means 'a cage', which refers to the mushroom shape in maturity. The specific epithet "archeri" leads us to the 'arching' arms of this stinkhorn, but it can be the wrong meaning.

Clathrus archeri Synonyms and Varieties

• Lysurus archeri Berk. (1859)

• Anthurus archeri (Berkeley) E. Fischer (1886), Jahrbuch des königlichen botanischen gartens und des botanischen Museums zu Berlin, 4, p. 81

• Anthurus aseroiformis (E. Fischer) McAlpine (1908), in Lloyd, Mycological writings, 2, mycological notes n° 31, p. 408, fig. 244

• Anthurus macowanii Lloyd (1916), Mycological writings, 4, mycological notes n° 41, p. 570, fig. 779

• Anthurus muellerianus f. aseroeformis E. Fischer (1890), Neue denkschriften der allgemeinen schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten naturwissenschaften, 32(2), p. 68

• Anthurus muellerianus Kalchbrenner (1880), Értekezések a természettudományok Köréböl, kiadja a magyar tudományos Akadémia, 10(17), p. 22, tab. 3, fig. 3

• Anthurus muellerianus var. aseroeformis(E. Fischer) E. Fischer (1898), in Engler & Prantl, Die natürlichen pflanzenfamilien, 1(1**), p. 288

• Anthurus sepioides McAlpine (1904), Victorian Naturalist, 20, p. 42

• Anthurus surinamensis E. Fischer (1927), Annales mycologici, edii in notitiam scientiae mycologicae universalis, 25(5-6), p. 471

• Aserophallus archeri (Berk.) Kuntze 1891

• Clathrus archeri var. archeri (Berk.) Dring 1980

• Lysurus muellerianus (Kalchbrenner) Hennings (1902), Hedwigia: Beiblatt zur Hedwigia, 41(5), p. (172)

• Lysurus pentactinus Berkeley (1860), in J.D. Hooker, The botany of the Antarctic voyage III, flora Tasmaniae, 2, p. tab. 184

• Lysurus surinamensis (E. Fischer) E. Fischer (1933), Annales mycologici, edii in notitiam scientiae mycologicae universalis, 31(3), p. 124

• Pseudocolus archeri (Berkeley) Lloyd (1913), Mycological writings, 4, letter n° 47, p. 14

• Schizmaturus archeri (Berkeley) Locquin (1977), Bulletin trimestriel de la Fédération mycologique Dauphiné-Savoie, 17(65), p. 18

• Schizmaturus aseroiformis (E. Fischer) Locquin (1977), Bulletin trimestriel de la Fédération mycologique Dauphiné-Savoie, 17(65), p. 18

• Schizmaturus muellerianus (Kalchbrenner) Locquin (1977), Bulletin trimestriel de la Fédération mycologique Dauphiné-Savoie, 17(65), p. 18

Clathrus archeri Timelapse

Sources:

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