Aseroe rubra
I've spotted this distinctive fungus in a backyard in Bellingen northern New South Wales, and near some tennis courts in Killara, NSW. Both times it was growing in a heavy wood chip mulch in June. It has been sighted by a contributor in Tasmania.
At first Aseroe rubra looks like a lizard's egg, but about half the size of a chicken egg. The star shaped anemone structure grows out of the egg and can appear overnight.
The arms, always in pairs, are red, but covered in a foul smelling olive green to black mucilage, which seems very attractive to flies. The centre of the anenome structure is quite hollow, with the hollow seeming to extend down the full length of the white stype.
It stands about 40mm high and is about 40mm across.
- Aseroe rubra (photo by Angela Traill) Bruny Island, Tasmania. This anenome like fungus looks like a small egg in its juv
- Aseroe rubra Twin Creeks Walk, Lindfield, Roseville, Sydney NSW, June 8, 2009, in dense leaf litter, quite a few flies h
- Aseroe rubra Twin Creeks Walk, Lindfield, Roseville, Sydney NSW, June 8, 2009, in dense leaf litter, quite a few flies h
- Aseroe rubra Twin Creeks Walk, Lindfield, Roseville, Sydney NSW, June 8, 2009, in dense leaf litter, quite a few flies h
- Clathrus archeri differs from Aseroe rubra in that the spore mass is borne on the arms, not a central disk. The arms are
