Phallus multicolor
Description
Phallus multicolor is a species of fungus in the family Phallaceae or "stinkhorns". It is similar in overall appearance to Phallus indusiatus, but it has a more brightly colored cap, stipe, and indusium, and it is usually smaller.
The cap is initially covered with brown 'gleba', a smelly coating that attracts insects which in turn distribute the spores. It is found in Australia, Guam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Zaire, and Tobago as well as Hawaii and New Caledonia.
Common names: Yellow Bridal Veil Stinkhorn.
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously in woods and urban settings (gardens, woodchip beds, and so on); year-round; Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.
Immature Fruiting Body
Like a whitish to brownish "egg"; when sliced revealing the stinkhorn-to-be encased in a gelatinous substance.
Mature Fruiting Body
Spike-like; to 16 cm high and 3 cm across; with a cap that is pitted and ridged by maturity, and covered with a slimy, olive-brown substance that eventually wears off (or is carried away by flies), exposing a lemon yellow to the yellowish surface; often developing a perforation at the top; with a white to pinkish stem that arises from a white to pinkish or purplish, sacklike volva; with a laced, lemon yellow to yellowish "skirt" hanging from the bottom edge of the cap to about halfway down the stem's length; odor unpleasant or strongly sweet.
Microscopic Features
Spores 3.5-4.5 x 1.5-2 µ; long-elliptical to nearly cylindric.
Look-Alikes
-
Larger and has a white volva and stem but no indusium (skirt).
Phallus impudicus var. togatus
Has a white volva, a white stem, and a very short white veil.
-
Has a white stem and nearly always a pure white skirt.
History
This stinkhorn fungus was originally described under the scientific name of Dictyophora multicolor by British mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome.
Another Briton, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, is credited with establishing its currently accepted scientific name Phallus multicolor in 1882.
Synonyms of Phallus multicolor include Dictyophora multicolor Berk. & Broome, Phallus daemonum Rumph. ex Fr., and Dictyophora echinata Henn. & E.Nyman.
The genus name Phallus was chosen by Carl Linnaeus, and it is a reference to the phallic appearance of many of the fruitbodies within this fungal group.
The specific epithet multicolor is a reference to the variable color (creamy white, pink, yellow, or orange in various shades) of the veil (called an indusium) of this stinkhorn.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Sam Stainsby (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Meghan Cassidy (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Meghan Cassidy (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Tim Adams (timonroad) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 5 - Author: Ian Dodd (kk) (www.kundabungkid.com) Australia (kundabungkid) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Shape: Stinkhorns