There are times when being awake is worse than reliving that moment in the film ‘Alien’ when John Hurt leans over one of those ‘eggs’ in the hold of the alien ship and suddenly – Waaaghhh! – the thing is all over his face and doing a Linda Lovelace impersonation.
(‘Deep Throat’ people – ‘Deep Throat’!)
J and I had our first ‘egg’ moment three years ago – we were heaving ourselves up to a ledge in one of our local valleys when there ‘they’ were at nose level. Eggs and aliens! A terrible stench of rotting carcasses filled our nostrils along with hoards of flies trying to do the same! We had never seen anything like these weird creations of some warped, alien imagination.
Since that first close encounter of the t#rd kind we have found a number of these alien hives – some very close to our house. We have also learned a little about them – say ‘Hello!’ to Clathrus ruber aka the Lattice or Basket Stinkhorn or, as the country folk around the former Yugoslavia prefer, ‘Witch’s Heart’!
Alien leaping from its egg
Clathrus ruber – Lattice Stinkhorn sharing an intimate moment with John Hurt; compare with Alien above – see the family likeness?
Learning about the Stinkhorn family is laced with auto-erotic symbolism – they are of the Order Phallales and Family Phallaceae; ‘eggs’ are called volva. In my opinion they are about as erotic as a smear in a Petri dish! They are however, part of a very interesting group of fungi. Another member of the group C. archeri or Octopus Stinkhorn, is a native of Australia and New Zealand -
an Oz alien Clathrus archeri guarding its eggs
- examples have turned up in Turkey and spores are believed to have been transported here in the boxes and equipment of the ANZAC troops following the invasion of Gallipoli/Çanakkale in 1915. It is equally weird but lacks the putrid stench associated with the Lattice Stinker.
glistening and pulsing the ‘egg’ slowly opens -
like John Hurt, curiosity draws you closer – suddenly . . Waaaghhh!
The ‘egg’ is roughly spherical, up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, with a jelly-like interior. White or grayish in colour, it is initially smooth, but develops a network of polygonal marks on the surface prior to opening. The ‘alien’ bursts the egg open as it expands (a process that can take as little as a few hours), and takes on its new persona as a cross between a dead body and a Wiffle ball! (a plastic ball with holes in it) As the sponge-like ‘lattice’ develops a thick, foul-smelling goo called gleba covers the inner surfaces. This attracts flies and other insects which help to spread the spores. Whilst the ‘eggs’ may take days or weeks to reach ‘hatching’, the amazing fruit will last but a few hours before dissolving into a slimy smear.
Alien hosts a ‘Bring-a-Bottlefly’ party
The time to see them is now . .
Alan Fenn, Okçular Köyü
I have never seen this before but will be tripping over my feet looking for it on our walks from now on. (I was very excited 2 years ago in England to come across the “dog vomit fungus” – Do we have this in Turkey?)
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Hello Annie! Know of this charmingly named ‘fungi’ but never seen it here. It isn’t a fungi at all, although it was once lumped in with them, but a slime mould, most of which are too small to be noticed except by the dedicated. I have no real interest in them, but belonging as they do to a sub-group of the Amoeba, I understand why many do. So, there you have another connection to the world of sci-fi; that great pile of dog’s vomit could well turn out to be the biggest amoeba you’ll ever have the pleasure of standing on!
ps when times are hard they can find their kind and join together into a single entity – you really couldn’t make this stuff up!
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Your description of this creature was so vivid, we feel as though we’ve been slimed! Ain’t nature grand? Sorry to say, we won’t be down to the woods today so us city slickers will probably miss this guy. But thanks for the ‘virtual’ experience.
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. . thanks guys – glad you enjoyed the meet-up! You mentioned ‘slime’ and being Senior Dogs I’m reluctant to look you in the eye after the discussion with Annie above
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Alan, you should come to our neck of the woods and check out the ‘dog poop’ fungi sometime. But seriously, folks, this posting was very funny and creative.
Senior dogs recently posted..The Treasures of Anatolia
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. . thank you! Will take you up on the ‘doggie-do’ expedition when next in your glorious city.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post.
thank you, thank you, thank you!
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Rural living in all its smelly glory!
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. . I’ve smelled worse from the broads of Norfolk!
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It sounds revolting, but I suppose everything has it’s place and purpose.
. . revolting but fascinating!
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I tried to be all tough and Australian about it but I have to admit that this ‘wonder of nature’ made me utter a very girly eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!! I don’t remember ever coming across them in Oz…happily enough.
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Hi Kym! Best have another tinny and try and forget the wildlife in and under the dunny
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this really is fascinating, I learn something new each time I check out your posts, thanks for that
Toprakanne is pretty wonderful – never ceases to amaze us!
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These are absolutely amazing gifts of nature. i haven’t seen any of this in my entire life.
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Hi Mike! Aren’t they just? There is nothing stranger than reality.
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Never seen these before, never heard of them before…and not too sure I ever want to come across this ‘interesting’ funghi, either.
Julia
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. . they do a novel line in conversation . . . ‘Pheeewwwww! What a smell!’ ‘No missus! I smell – you stink!’ (or was that Winston Churchill?
Alan recently posted..Our Gnashional Gallery
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I can almost smell these slimy things. Jeez!
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Hi, and welcome to Archers! Amazing looking things, aren’t they?
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