Fungus Fetish, Anyone?

Yesterday morning when I put the guinea pigs outside in their run, I found the weirdest looking fungus I had ever seen in our backyard.

I say ‘had’ because having spent a couple of hours looking around on the net to see what it was, I can now conclusively state that fungi are the most perverted plant on the planet.

It turns out that this one is called lysurus mokusin, also known as Lantern Fungus, and it’s one of the more low-key phallic fungi around. You should check out phallus impudicus.

There’s a whole family of these stinkhorns, which use a foul smell to attract bugs, who then spread the spores. I didn’t notice any smell myself, so maybe it has special bug-smell pheromones or something.

Pretty weird, huh?