Clathrus ruber

[ Basidiomycetes > Phallales > Phallaceae > Clathrus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Recent criminology research has determined that Clathrus ruber is a diet staple for psycho killers living in remote mountain shacks. This discovery, stumbled onto by a mushroom-loving grad student at Quantico who rearranged the letters of Clathrus ruber to get "RURAL BUTCHERS," may lead to the development of new FBI profiles and . . .

Okay, okay; I'll shut up and talk about the mushroom. If there were such a thing as an orange "Wiffle football," it would be Clathrus ruber. You wouldn't want to hike it to a friend, however, since its interior surfaces are coated with a foul-smelling slime that attracts flies and other insects (who then disperse the mushroom's spores). Like other stinkhorns, it arises from an "egg" that is attached to the ground with long cords.

Officially a European species, Clathrus ruber is found with some regularity in northern California. A similar species, Clathrus crispus, appears in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. I suspect that reports of Clathrus ruber from southeastern North America represent Clathrus crispus.

Edibility is not officially known for Clathrus ruber; it has been reported as both poisonous and edible. But the idea of eating any stinkhorn is repulsive, if you ask me.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; probably introduced to North America through human activity; growing alone or gregariously--often near woody debris, in lawns, gardens, cultivated soil, and so on; Mexico and California (it is a "regular" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where it has probably been introduced through the importation of substrate; I have also heard of massive fruitings under bamboo in the Santa Cruz area); fruiting nearly year-round.

Fruiting Body: 5-15 cm high; shaped like a round or oval ball composed of interlaced branches (reminiscent of latticework on an apple pie); the branches flattened, spongy, roughened, and covered with olive to brownish slime on their inner surfaces; red, pink, or orange; without a stem or with a crude, stubby stem. When young encased in pale eggs; the egg tissue creating a white volva around the base when the mushroom matures.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4-6 x 1.5-2.5 µ; oblong-elliptical; smooth.

REFERENCES: Persoon, 1801. (Saccardo, 1888; Dring, 1980; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1981; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1987.) I have not collected this mushroom.

Clathrus cancellatus is a synonym.

Further Online Information:

Clathrus ruber at MykoWeb
Clathrus ruber at Roger's Mushrooms

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, September). Clathrus ruber. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clathrus_ruber.html