New Zealand Fungi

DSC_0700 Anemone stinkhorn (Aseroe rubra) first appears above ground as a partly buried whitish egg-shaped structure (left). It bursts open (right) as a hollow white stalk with reddish arms that spread horizontally and are forked at the tips. Recognisable for its foul faecal odour, the smelly brown spore-carrying mucus at the base of the arms attracts blowflies, which disperse the spores. This fairly common Australian fungus (it was the first native Australian fungus to be formally described), is widely distributed in eastern Australia, and across the islands in the Pacific Ocean, including New Zealand. It is introduced in Britain and the USA. Flagstaff, Dunedin *

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