Help! What did I find?

[rabajohn]

Hi! This is my 1st visit to this site & forum. I found a plant? or Fungi? a few months ago in a field near an oil well about 10 miles south of Marshall, Texas. I will do my best to describe it. It was a lone specimen sticking out of the grass alongside an oil tank. It was about 5" tall, maybe 1/2" to 5/8" at its widest diameter. It was tubular and the most striking thing about it was that it had either 5 or 6 "tentacles" on top. They looked just like octopus tentacles. They were a pink or rosy color and about a 1/2" long. At the tentacle's base it turned a grey/brown color and were sticky looking. After handling the "Whatzit", I realized a very powerful dead carcass smell was on my fingers. Any idea what this was? I had never seen anything quite like this anywhere in my 51 years. The suspense is killing me. Please, help ID this for me. Thanks! Randall J.

 

[scottychaos]

I have no idea..but I think I found out!
a google search for:

plant texas smells "rotten meat"

brought it up..

a variety of Stinkhorn mushroom..(there are several species)

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/phallaceae.html

perhaps Pseudocolus fusiformis or Aseröe rubra

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/pseudocolus_fusiformis.html

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/aseroe_rubra.html
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/images/contrib/fraser_aseroe_rubra_01.jpg

does it look like one of those?

Scot

 

[DroseraBug]

Very neat. I bet that's it. Those things look like marine polyps or something.

 

[rabajohn]

Hey, guys! Thanks for your replies. I did a lot of searching through the links, etc. that you gave me but have not nailed the plant yet. The aseroe rubra is very similar but not quite. It may be a close cousin. Every time I return to the area I found the specimen in, I look around to see if there is another one. If I do spot another one, I WILL photograph it and post it here, for you guys. Thanks again! Randall