Master Gardener^sm Column for the Week of March 14, 2005
Peggy Meinzer
Brunswick County Extension Master Gardener^sm Volunteer

Due to the recent wet weather, a number of my neighbors have asked, "What are the awful smelling, slimy orange 'lilies' mysteriously growing in our yard and garden mulch?" It is probably a fungus known as Stinkhorn. Because of damp, mild conditions, you are hosting a type of poisonous mushroom, unappetizing and unappealing at best. Stinkhorn fungi come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.

The term "fungi" is commonly used for several groups of plants that, lacking chlorophyll, grow as parasites or as saprophytes. The majority of non-flowering plants are classified fungi. Fungi produce asexual spores which, when released in black clouds from a ruptured casing, are dispersed by animals, wind, and water.

Although fungi may be a visual nuisance to the home gardener, they are a necessary part of the process that gives us the rich soils we crave in our gardens. Fungi and bacteria break down organic compounds returning them to air and soil. Since fungi are simple non-flowering plants without leaves or chlorophyll, they cannot produce their own food. They must live by taking their nourishment from other hosts--plants and debris.

Fungi spoil oranges, but give blue cheese its flavor. Other molds furnish medicines: penicillin and antibiotics. We tend to associate rotting, nasty things with fungi, but in fact, fungi play an important role in the balance of nature.

Stinkhorn mushrooms are in the class Basidiomycota, order Phallales Stinkhorn. They are in the group Gasteromycetes. Stinkhorn fungi may be identified as small, lattice, columnar, "dog," common and collared. The fungus first appears as an egg-shaped "golf ball" remaining underground or under mulch until spores mature. As weather conditions become favorable, a structure emerges from a pouch or peridium. The Columnar Stinkhorn opens to reveal a structure of four or five cinnabar-red, spongy, curved columns united at the top and containing slimy masses of foul-smelling, fetid, sticky spores. If you are not impressed by this colorful show, realize that you are quite defenseless against nature which has also provided flies and gnats to feed upon the spores and spread the fungi!

The alternatives to ridding your garden of these stinky guests are temporary and few. Wear a clothes clip on your nose and, using rubber gloves, dig, and bag the beasties, or practice your golf swing when they are in the white, round, ground-level stage of development! Either way, you lose to the stinky Stinkhorn, a fungus commonly among us here on the southeastern coast of North Carolina!

The scope of non-flowering plants includes some of the most fascinating, yet least understood of all plants. Many species of mushrooms are delicacies sought after by gourmet cooks. Others can be deadly and poisonous. Non-flowering plants are both interesting and important to us. A wide collection of books about these plants is available for reading and study. Look in your schools, libraries, and nearby book stores to find colorful and informative references suitable for both children and adults.

Send your gardening questions or comments to: Brunswick County Master Gardener Column, P.O. Box 109, Bolivia, NC 28422, or call (910) 253-2610. Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope if requesting information or a reply. Answers may be printed in this column.

For further information or assistance, please e-mail:
Charlie Spencer, Brunswick County Extension Master Gardener^smVolunteer

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Date Created 3/9/2005