New Zealand Fungi and Lichens

DSC_2500 Anemone stinkhorn, or puapua-a-autahi (Aseroe rubra) recognizable for its foul faecal odour and pink to red arms that spread horizontally and are forked at the tips. The brown spore-carrying mucus at the base of the arms is smelly, attracting blowflies which disperse the spores. This fairly common fungus was the first native Australian fungus to be formally described. It is widely distributed in eastern Australia, and across the islands in the Pacific Ocean, including New Zealand. Mount Cargill *

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