The wrinkly stinkhorn is a slender orange-red stinkhorn that pops up in mulched flower beds, gardens, and lawns, often in towns. It is fairly common in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. For years it was often labeled as Phallus rubicundus, a very similar species that is more common farther south.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Starts as a whitish to slightly purplish "egg" about 0.8–1.4 in (2–3.5 cm) tall. A hollow stalk 3–5 in (8–12 cm) tall and about 0.4–0.6 in (1–1.5 cm) thick grows out of it, leaving a sac-like cup at the base.
- Growth form
- The stalk is reddish orange when fresh and fades to pale pinkish orange. The wrinkled head, 0.6–1 in (1.5–2.5 cm) high, is red when fresh and fades to orange; it starts out covered with foul-smelling, dark brown spore slime. A rare white-stalked form can grow alongside the orange one.
Look-alikes
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- mulched beds
- gardens
- lawns
- cultivated ground
- Range
- Fairly common in North America from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic states, and also recorded from Hawaii, South America, and Asia; it was first described from Japan. In the U.S. it is more common north of a rough line from Oklahoma to Virginia.
- Preferred conditions
- Lives on decaying plant material, growing alone or in groups in wood-chip mulch, gardens, lawns, and other urban ground.
Behavior
- Activity
- Fruits from spring through fall in temperate areas, and possibly year-round in the tropics and subtropics.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Long known as Phallus rugulosus; a 2025 reclassification moved it to the genus Satyrus. Some experts treat it as the same species as Phallus rubicundus, which is why many older U.S. guides use that name.
More species to explore
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