Ghost droppings

While taking a walk recently, I was fortunate enough to come across this interesting native:

The Maori call them tutae kehua which translates as 'droppings of ghosts', presumably after their unusual 'ghostly' appearance and their smell.

What is it really, you ask?

It is Ileodictyon cibarium, more commonly known as the basket fungus. It belongs to the family Phallaceae, the stinkhorn fungus family. So you guessed it – they smell! (Well apparently... I can't say I've ever actually sniffed one, but I've never noticed them smelling particularly when walking past, or stopping to take the above photos for example. Perhaps, I have just happened to find them at good times, or when the wind is blowing the other way or something ;) ).

When you see regular mushrooms and toadstools, the actual 'mushroom' or 'toadstool' that you see is only the reproductive organ of that particular fungus. The rest of the fungus organism consists of a mass of fine (often invisible to the naked eye, though not always) thread-like structures known as hyphae. The hyphae excrete digestive enzymes, breaking down food sources in the soil (or other substrate, e.g. a log) which the cells are then able to absorb. Like the mushroom or toadstool of other fungi, the 'basket' of the basket fungus is its reproductive organ.

A reproductive 'egg' is produced on or just below the surface of the ground, containing the 'basket' all folded up, along with its spores. In case you feel so inclined, this 'egg' is edible. The 'basket' then pops out of the egg, and as it doesn't have to grow per se, it can appear very rapidly. The 'basket' is lined with a smelly slimey substance containing the spores (the dark brown splotches on the inside of the basket in my photos above). This slime is attractive to flies and some beetles and they come to check out the source of this delicious rotting smell. Inevitably, these insects will get some of the slime (with its spores) on them, and then as they leave, they take the spores with them, dispersing them to new locations. When a spore is deposited in a suitable spot, then a new basket fungus will grow :)