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Rare Stinkhorns Appear in Aptos |
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By Maria Gaura
This story originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
SANTA CRUZ, Ca. - When nursery manager Sandie Lewis saw what was hatching from the clusters of eggs that had appeared beneath the giant bamboo, she recoiled a step. The eggs were cream colored and on the small side, and they nestled in the leafy duff. But what emerged, instead of pinfeathered chicks, were clusters of bright red tentacles, with a delicate sheen of brownish slime.
EERIE HATCHLINGS
The eerie hatchlings eventually withered away into red-brown goo, and Lewis
shrugged it off.
But the second time the tentacle-sprouting eggs appeared, Lewis called the
Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and said, "I have something here from outer
space."
What had landed in the shady groves of the Bamboo Giant nursery in Aptos was
a spectacular cluster of rare octopus stinkhorns, a tropical fungus from
Australia. This year, for the third time, the elusive antipodean fungus --
prized by mushroom spotters even in its native clime -- is popping up by the
hundreds in the nursery's wood-chip mulch.
"The stinkhorns in general are not really common, and this particular one is
just so unusual," said Phil Carpenter, a 20-year Fungus Federation member who
responded to Lewis' call for help last year. "I had never seen any of them
before. They are hard to spot, except (at the Bamboo Giant nursery), where they
are out in profusion."
FUNGIPHILE FRENZY
The sightings -- first announced on the Fungus Federation's hot-line last
spring -- have caused quite a stir in the mycological community, drawing
self-described "fungiphiles" from throughout the region to gaze upon a species
that even life-long mushroom hunters had never seen outside of a field guide.
"Everyone ran out to take pictures of them, it was really a lot of fun,"
said Marjorie Young, an amateur mycologist from Aptos who has published a wild-
mushroom cookbook. "Whenever anything new or interesting or bizarre shows up,
we all go and take a look. We went out to take a look and met umpteen of our
friends doing the same thing."
The stinkhorns appeared at Bamboo Giant this spring two or three weeks ago,
earlier in the season than before and in greater profusion than ever. In some
of the nursery's groves their scarlet tentacles unfurl by the score, and their
distinctive scent is unavoidable.
The octopus stinkhorn, also known as devil's claw, wood-chip stinkhorn or,
for the scientifically inclined, Clathrus archeri, was named for its odiferous
reproductive ways as much as for its distinctive five-tentacled looks.
The "stinkopus," as mushroom expert David Arora affectionately calls the
species in his famous field guide "Mushrooms Demystified," exudes an odor
variously described as "carrion like" or redolent of composting dog manure.
The smell attracts flies, which wallow in the stinkhorn's spore-rich slime
and in turn disperse the spores.
SLIMY BUT EDIBLE
The fungus is edible when harvested in the egg stage, before it starts to
stink. The firm egg-like fungus contains a sac of grayish gelatin in which the
just-forming tiny tentacles can be seen. They are reputed to taste like
potatoes.
According to Arora, however, it is best to remove the mucilaginous layer
before tasting.
Despite the mycological delight at the profusion of octopus stinkhorns
reproducing in Aptos, many invasive species have wrought ecological damage in California. Might the stinkhorns join forces with the Chinese mitten crab and overwhelm the state's natural defenses?
"Not a chance, there is no potential" for becoming invasive, said David
Chambers, a Santa Cruz mushroom hunter whose day job is researching the spread
of sudden oak death, which has killed off thousands of California's native
oaks. It is not in the stinkhorn's nature to molest a living organism: "If they are living in
wood chips, they are basically decomposers," Chambers said.
copyright 2004 SFChronicle
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