AT A GLANCE
- Common Name: Yellow Net Stinkhorn
- Scientific Name: Phallus multicolor
- Category: Fungi
- Subcategory: Stinkhorns
- Range: Circumtropical and subtropical distribution, native to tropical Asia (from China, Japan, and India through Southeast Asia), northern Australia, Hawaii, and parts of tropical Africa
- Habitat Type: Tropical and subtropical rainforests, bamboo groves, woodland clearings, decomposing woody mulch, and organic forest floors
- IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern
- Lifespan: Fruiting body lasts 1 to 3 days; subterranean mycelium is perennial in rich humus
- Diet: Saprotrophic (decomposing decomposing leaf litter, bamboo roots, and decaying tropical forest wood)
- Average Size/Weight: Fruiting body height 12 to 18 cm; indusium skirt length 8 to 14 cm; cap diameter 2 to 4 cm
- Key Defining Feature: Spectacular tropical stinkhorn featuring an erect white stalk, a conical cap coated in dark olive spore slime, and an extravagant, lacy bridal skirt of glowing golden-yellow or apricot
Overview
The Yellow Net Stinkhorn (Phallus multicolor), also known as the Multi-colored Stinkhorn or Yellow Veiled Lady, is one of the most breathtaking, delicate, and architecturally stunning fungi on the planet. Belonging to the stinkhorn family Phallaceae, this tropical saprotrophic mushroom looks like a delicate bride draped in a glowing golden lace dress. Emerging rapidly at dawn from a subterranean egg, it unfurls a magnificent, hanging lacy skirt of bright yellow or apricot-orange beneath its dark, spore-coated cap.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Phallus multicolor develops from an underground, gelatinous, whitish egg-shaped volva. When moisture and temperature conditions align, the mushroom erupts with astonishing speed, expanding its full height within just a few hours. The central stipe is tall, hollow, spongy, and pure white. Crowning the top is a conical, pitted cap covered in a thick layer of dark olive-green, pungent, spore-bearing slime (gleba). Hanging suspended from beneath the cap is the indusium—an extraordinary, delicate, open-mesh lattice skirt of bright golden-yellow, canary-yellow, or deep apricot that billows outward around the white stalk like an intricate petticoat.
Behavior and Ecology
Like other members of the Phallaceae, the Yellow Net Stinkhorn relies on insect mutualism for spore dispersal. The dark gleba cap emits an intense, foul, putrid odor of decaying organic matter that wafts through the tropical understory. Attracted by the carrion-like stench and the bright visual beacon of the golden indusium skirt, swarms of flies, stingless bees, and beetles land on the cap, greedily consuming the sweet, spore-packed slime. The insects subsequently fly throughout the jungle, depositing the spores in their droppings across the forest floor.
Conservation and Human Impact
The Yellow Net Stinkhorn is classified as Least Concern on global fungal lists. It is widespread throughout the tropical and subtropical forests of Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands, frequently fruiting in bamboo plantations, tropical botanical gardens, and rainforest preserves.
Interesting Factoid
The Yellow Net Stinkhorn looks like a mushroom wearing a bright yellow lace ballroom gown, and its lacy skirt expands from a tiny egg to its full six-inch length in just a couple of hours at dawn.