South-Carolina
Stinky squid stinkhorn mushrooms
Pseudocolus fusiformis is a species of stinkhorn mushroom commonly called the “stinky squid” due to it’s odor and the three or four tentacle-like growths that connect at the top.
Transcript:
RUDY MANCKE:
Hi, this is Rudy Mancke from University of South Carolina for NatureNotes.
Bob Peasley from the Fountain Inn area sent me a picture of a stinkhorn mushroom, and he had already identified it. He said he thought he had looked it up and it was the stinky squid stinkhorn mushroom. And he was right!
It looks like a squid jet propelling itself away from you with trailing the tentacles behind. The tentacles are spongy looking in this little stinkhorn mushroom, joined at the top. Usually you find it associated with mulch or decaying logs. And really it is an amazing species. A lot of people think it might actually be an introduced species from Asia, Usually three or four red or yellow arms, looking like a squid.