Ravenel's Stinkhorn

This is the second summer in a row that I have found these beauties outside of the Bartley Center on the Holyoke Community College campus.  Stinkhorns are named for their shape and have a characteristic odor.  Some say the odor is of rotting flesh, others say it smells like semen.  To me, it's a toss up.  They just reek!

[caption id="attachment_68" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Phallus ravenelii"][/caption]

Here is the emerging stinkhorn.  Caught in the act!!