page_title: Mutinus elegans
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Mutinus elegans / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: The "devil's dipstick", species Mutinus elegans (Mont.) Fisch. Photographed in New Port Richey, Pasco County, Florida, USA.
context_page_description: Mutinus elegans, commonly known as the elegant stinkhorn, the dog stinkhorn, the headless stinkhorn, or the devil's dipstick, is a species of fungus in the family Phallaceae. A saprobic species, it is typically found growing on the ground singly or in small groups on woody debris or leaf litter, during summer and autumn in Japan, Europe, and eastern North America. The fruit body begins its development in an "egg" form, resembling somewhat a puffball partially submerged in the ground. As the fungus matures, a slender orange to pink colored stalk emerges that tapers evenly to a pointed tip. The stalk is covered with a foul-smelling slimy green spore mass on the upper third of its length. Flies and other insects feed upon the slime which contains the spores, assisting in their dispersal. Due to their repellent odor, mature specimens are not generally considered edible, although there are reports of the immature "eggs" being consumed. In the laboratory, Mutinus elegans has been shown to inhibit the growth of several microorganisms that can be pathogenic to humans.
context_section_description: The young fruiting bodies are initially white and spherical or egg-shaped, partially submerged in the ground, with dimensions of 2 to 3 cm (0.8 to 1.2 in) by 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in). As the fruit body matures, the egg ruptures and the spongy spore-bearing stalk emerges; fully grown, it may be from 1 to 15 cm (0.4 to 5.9 in) long and 1.5 to 2 cm (0.6 to 0.8 in) thick. The stalk is hollow and strongly wrinkled overall; its shape is cylindrical below, but it gradually tapers to a narrow apex with a small opening at the tip. The upper half of the stalk is bright red to reddish orange, and the color gradually loses intensity transforming into pinkish white below. The stalk may be straight, or slightly curved. A gelatinous greenish-brown gleba covers the upper third of the stalk in newly emerged specimens. The remains of the "egg" forms a volva around the base of the stalk. The odor of the gleba is foul; one author describes it as "sickly sweet or metallic". The spores are a greenish-brown color. Fruit bodies are attached to the substrate by whitish rhizomorphs that resemble plant roots. American mycologist Smith noted that the eggs are often slow to open, sometimes taking up to two weeks before the stalk expands.
  The spores are 4–7 by 2–3 µm, oblong-elliptical, smooth, and embedded in the gleba. A 1982 study revealed that spores of species in the family Phallaceae, including Mutinus elegans, have a hilar scar (0.2–0.3 µm diameter) that is observable with scanning electron microscopy. The hilar scar is a circular indentation at one end of the spore, and it most likely results during the separation of the attachment of the spore to the sterigma of the basidium.
caption: Specimen from Florida, USA
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