Florida: Octopus Stinkhorn Mushroom
January 8, 2014 13 Comments
Octopus Stinkhorn Mushroom in Our Backyard
Closed Octopus Stinkhorn Mushroom at St. Sebastian River Preserve
Open Octopus Stinkhorn Mushroom at St. Sebastian River Preserve
The most incredible mushroom is growing in our backyard here in Florida – the octopus stinkhorn. As you can imagine, it lives up to its “stinky” name, and has arms like an octopus. When I first saw it, I thought it looked like a red starfish with its arms closed together. Now that I know what it is, I need to keep an eye on it and get a better quality photograph than this one taken with my cell phone. The octopus stinkhorn mushroom originally came from Australia, and probably got exported with sheep’s wool. What a neat plant! More info and pictures are at: http://www.kuriositas.com/2013/10/fungtopus-incredible-fungus-that-looks.html.
UPDATE: We saw the Octopus Stinkhorn Mushroom while out hiking at the St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park – South Entrance trail in December 2014. Pictures 2 and 3 are from that sighting. A mere touch of a finger triggered the mushroom to open.
About Pam
naturetime 
Interesting!
It was the strangest mushroom that I’ve ever seen in Florida. After all these years in this area, I saw four for the first time in one day!
Pam, when we lived in St. Augustine we had a few of these spring up (strangely enough over our septic tank drain field). They stank to the high heavens and had us totally mystified. Because of the horrific smell, we were afraid that something was wrong with the septic system. After some research, we finally decided that we had imported them with some mulch that we put down. That was a relief of sorts, but the smell … PU. ~James
James, I love your mushroom story! Now I know that when I smell something stinky in the yard, it might be something as simple as a mushroom. Who knew? I’ve found a few now, and they were in completely scattered parts of the yard (but so far never on our drain field). I am fascinated by stinky plants. We love our stapeliad starfish flower. The best of all is the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanium). By chance we were in Sydney when one bloomed at the Conservatory, and it was awesome! If we get lucky sometime, occasionally one blooms at Fairchild Gardens in Miami and Marie Selby Gardens in Sarasota.
It looks like an alien!
Yes, I agree. I wasn’t quite sure what it was at first!
Funny 😀
This mushroom grows also in Germany and Switzerland, but it is very rare!
I am so happy you wrote to tell me about that. It is truly an amazing mushroom – very unique and a real treat to find.
How unusual…both the name and the mushroom! Lucky you to find this fungus of wonder in your backyard, I look forward to more photographs!
It was a fun find! I never know when they will pop up, and they last only a very short time. Here’s hoping I find another one soon!
how wonderful that you found this
i have never come across one
i just love mushrooms
but for now, we have a snowy realm….
Snow is beautiful too, but I admit to being a warm climate girl. Mushrooms are very interesting. After the abundance of mushrooms in California, I never expected to run across such amazing mushrooms growing in the sand here in Florida. We have fairy rings in our yard all the time.