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Kōrero: Fungi

Stinkhorn fungus

Stinkhorn fungus

The fruiting body of a stinkhorn fungus emerges from the ground as an egg-like structure. It then splits open, revealing a stalk with a number of coloured arms. This species, Anthurus archeri, is growing in a clump of moss in native forest. Stinkhorn fungi produce a smelly mucus mass full of spores at the base of their arms. Flies feed on the stinking mucus and in so doing help to spread the spores.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Department of Conservation

Reference: 10054600

by Dick Veitch

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Peter Buchanan, Fungi – Saprobes: decomposers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/11572/stinkhorn-fungus (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Peter Buchanan, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.

Comments

IanR
15 May 2012
How do you get rid of these stinking things that are in my garden??
Lyn Mountier
02 May 2011
Pink flower-like stinkhorns are abundant in the Auckland Domain, under mulched trees, near the bandstand area. April 2011