Itajahya galericulata

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Ecology: Saprobic; growing gregariously in gardens and cultivated areas; summer and fall in the Northern Hemisphere, winter and spring in the Southern Hemisphere; originally described from Brazil; widespread in South America; in North America distributed in Texas and the southwestern United States; well documented in South Africa; reported from India. The illustrated and described collection is from Arizona.

Immature Fruiting Body: A whitish "egg" 2-3 cm high and 3-5 cm wide; surface smooth; when sliced revealing the stinkhorn-to-be encased in a gelatinous substance.

Mature Fruiting Body: 9-12 cm high; 3-4.5 cm thick at the widest point; more or less cylindric; hollow.

Head: 3-4.5 cm high; 3.5-4.5 cm wide; cylindric to slightly egg-shaped; hollow; surface appearing coarsely granular from a distance—the appearance resulting from the surface being composed of small wrinkled nodes of tissue, surrounded by dark brown spore slime; apex adorned with a calyptra—a large cap-like patch of whitish tissue exceeding the width of the head; apex sometimes perforated.

Stem: 6-8 cm high; 3-4 cm wide; spongy; hollow; finely pocked; whitish to yellowish; sometimes with adhering patches of volval material; base encased in a whitish to brownish, sacklike volva; attached to thin whitish rhizomorphs.

Odor: Foul while the spore slime is present.

Microscopic Features: Spores 3-4 x 1.5-2 m; elongated-ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Sphaerocysts of the pseudostipe 24-52 m across; subglobose unless compressed, and then irregular; walls 1-1.5 m thick; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Hyphae of the volva 3-10 m wide; smooth; thin-walled; septate; hyaline in KOH. Clamp connections not found.

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