In a world of bizarre mushrooms, Clathrus ruber stands out as a very bizarre mushroom: a geometrical pop of orange-red showing in gardens and parks after the rains, trying extra like an errant pickleball than a conventional toadstool. A member of the order Phallales, identified generally as stinkhorns, C. ruber has been referred to as the basket stinkhorn, latticed stinkhorn, or pink cage fungus (clathrus that means cage or lattice in historical Greek, ruber that means pink in Latin), witch’s coronary heart in japanese Europe, and lanterne du diable (satan’s lantern) in France. This cosmopolitan character was first described in Europe, and is taken into account native to the Mediterranean area. It has additionally been seen in Australia, Asia and Central and South America. Within the US, it seems primarily alongside the California coast.
Like all stinkhorns, C. ruber begins its life above floor as a unclean white little “egg”, peeking out from soil and detritus. With time the egg can begin to present the faint edges of the geometric form rising inside. As soon as the mushroom inside is mature sufficient, it bursts upward out of the egg, and in a matter of minutes is a totally fashioned, totally weird construction. The mature cage stinkhorn appears like a demonic bucky ball that you just would possibly need to use as a loofah.
C. ruber’s cage bears a type of stunning pure geometries, just like the Fibonacci sequences of nautiluses or the fractals of romanesco broccoli, that appear extra engineered than grown. As if a crew of enterprising ants, desirous to impress all the opposite bugs, had erected this spectacular mushroom on the first Insect World’s Truthful. Any flies in attendance can be significantly delighted by what was contained inside.
Many mushrooms unfold by releasing spores into the air that the winds then carry backward and forward, however stinkhorns stash their spores inside a pungent goo referred to as gleba (gross title for a gross substance). The gleba coats the within of C. ruber’s lattice. Flies flock to the foul stench and get the gleba on them. They then disperse the goo, and the spores in it, wherever they go. About 24 hours after its dramatic look, the majestic C. ruber deflates like a bouncy fort that has sprung a leak, and shrivels again into the particles from which it emerged.
Whereas flies might love the odor of the gleba, consuming it, rolling round in it, having the time of their brief lives, people don’t are likely to have the identical response. The scent of the stinkhorn has elicited such descriptions as “fetid,” “extraordinarily foetid,” “foul-smelling,” “smelly,” “stench of dying,” “cadaverous,” “like a useless rat,” and “rotting flesh,” which begins to color a reasonably clear olfactory image. In highschool I road-tripped to Canada with some buddies, and we had some slices of ham in a cooler within the trunk that we forgot about till close to the tip, and that’s sort of what C. ruber smells wish to me. It wasn’t appetizing then, and it isn’t appetizing (to me) now. However regardless of studies from Europe that it’s toxic (and even causes most cancers!), at the very least some intrepid gourmets have tried consuming C. ruber, significantly in its egg stage. Supposedly it tastes like radish.
Clathrus ruber’s otherworldly structure and netherworldly odor attracts comparisons to witches and aliens, however its most well-liked atmosphere is right down to earth: mulch and nutrient-rich soil. It appears to seem mostly in gardens that fertilize with compost or use tree bark as mulch. In response to the mushroom web site MykoWeb, C. ruber is turning into a extra widespread sight within the Bay Space as parks more and more mulch their fallen bushes and use the fabric on website. Clumps of iNaturalist observations at landscaped areas like Golden Gate Park and the UC Berkeley campus appear to verify this.C. ruber’s residence in simply accessible environments, mixed with its brilliant coloration, distinctive form, and explicit fragrance, makes it a simple mushroom to maintain an eye fixed out for. And even to hunt out particularly, if you’re searching for an olfactory journey.
