Mushroom Monday

A couple of stinkhorn mushrooms. Elegant, no? Well, elegant stinkhorn (Mutinus elegans) is what these things are called. The French, being French, mince not: Phalle élégant.I usually see these in mulch piles, but these two were sprouting from the grassy mix under a Turkish filbert.Most mushrooms disperse spores via the air. These phallocratic fungi have a fetid mucus which attracts gnats and flies. The spores stick to the insects… I got pretty close for these pictures, but, battling mosquitos, did not notice any stench.