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| Latticed Stinkhorn (Clathrus ruber) |
On a recent morning walk in which I had debated whether to even bring my smartphone, I was glad I had chosen to bring it when I spotted some Clathrus ruber growing in the landscaping along Sunset Boulevard near Kirkham Street (on the 36th Avenue side). As you can see from the photos below, this is a pretty large fruiting, with many "eggs" ready to unleash a lovely orange stink-basket of fungus.
On subsequent days I returned on my e-bike to check out the progress. On the second day, the first basket had petered out, and I wondered if the whole thing would just dry up. But on the third day it looked like the fruiting was still on. I missed the fourth day because I was at Duxbury Reef, but returned this morning to find things coming along nicely.
This morning was also the first time I'd actually seen flies enjoying the stink. I got an unpleasant whiff of the sewer-like odor myself when I took some close-up shots with my Nikon. It was definitely the kind of unpleasant smell only a fly could love, but thankfully it didn't carry very far. I couldn't smell it at all until I got right down there with it. Despite its olfactory hideousness, the fruitbodies have a really interesting color and texture. I'm curious to see if the fruiting continues this week as the weather turns warmer and drier (it was even sunny at the beach this morning), but I'm not sure I'll have time to check up on it again.
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| Progression of Fruiting |
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| A Fly's Delight |
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| Artsy Fartsy Fungus |
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| Egg Basket |
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