Saturday, July 07, 2012

Jewels in Winter

Aseroe Rubra emerging from the palm mulch

The fruiting body "hatches"
I love the translucent jelly with the spiralling membranes!

Apparently the brown slime smells like rotten flesh...
Flies are attracted to it and spread the spores


I like the fact that it adds colour in the winter garden


I found these lurking in the palm mulch: just the occasional one at first, but in the cooler weather they're popping up all over the place. A quick search of Australian mycology websites revealed that they are a common stinkhorn called Aseroe Rubra. These, and the delicate nests of Cyathia Novae-Zealandaes, are decorating my garden in the cold!  Since I don't put my nose up next to them I haven't noticed the alleged stink, and they don't harm the surrounding plants.

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