Stinkhorn fungus found in Melbourne Museum's Forest Gallery.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria
An interesting fungus has been found at the base of a tree fern located in Melbourne Museum's Forest Gallery.
The Stinkhorn fungus (Pseudocolus fusiformis) is found in the wetter forests of Victoria, where it is quite rare, and also in New South Wales and Queensland.
So far the fungus has been recorded in only four locations in Victoria, including the Otways and the Dandenongs. The Forest Gallery find is the first time it has been recorded in metropolitan Melbourne, according to Dr Tom May, the Royal Botanic Gardens' resident Mycologist.
Slimy spores are produced on the inside of the orange arms of the fruit-body, which emerge from a white egg-like structure. The fruiting body has a putrid smell and the flies which are attracted to it help spread the spores.
The Melbourne Museum find may be seen or smelt from the Forest Gallery's 'Earth' pathway for the next few days only, emerging from the base of a tree fern.