Red Cage Fungus

Image: key lime pie yumyum via Flickr

A Demon strides toward you. He must be 9 feet tall, his hoofed feet effortlessly landing on the small lumps of rock that float atop the broiling lava. Tendrils of flame lick his flesh almost up to his knees, blackening his skin and burning away flecks of hair.

Above his knees and up to his waist is a thick mass of brown fur, matted, clumped and variously tinged with red and black. Above the waist his leathery skin is a sickly, almost celebratory orange. His eyes are completely black, but surrounded by a painful red as if irritated by the acidic fumes.

"You? You wish to fight for your freedom?"

You stare up at him, unable to speak.

"Are you ready for the Red Cage?"

Image: amadej2008 via Flickr

Clathrus ruber is a mushroom who shows us that even in the depths of Hell and evil, there is a strange beauty to be found. I bet Satan is really good with watercolours.

This fungus has an assortment of names; the Red Cage, Latticed Stinkhorn and Basket Stinkhorn. In some parts of Europe its name translates to Witch's Heart. In France it's called Coeur de Sorcière, Sorceror's Heart.

All very mystical! Aside from the Stinkhorn stuff. The Red Cage is indeed in the Stinkhorn family. It stinks. Mainly of rot and death.

Image: scott.zona via Flickr

The stench attracts flies.

mmmatthewww

Lots and lots of flies.

This is how they get their microscopic spores spread all over the place. Originally it was all in Europe, but they've since been introduced to just about every continent on Earth. It's like they wanted to be absolutely sure that this was a demon-haunted world.

The spore produces a mycelium, which is like a big bundle of roots for feeding on decaying, woody, plant stuff.

Image: Gencer Emiroglu

Next they produce a kind of egg which can be up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter.

Image: Wikipedia

The egg hatches and something nasty peers out at the world for the first time.

The young stinker continues to grow and tear out of the confines of the egg, the remnants of which is known as the volva.

Image: Tomás Mazón via Flickr

The inner side of the latticework is covered in a sticky, olive-green slime called the gleba. This is the stuff that produces the nasty smell and contains all the spores. It attracts the flies, it sticks to the flies and it travels far and wide on the flies.

The Red Cage will eventually reach anywhere between 8 and 20 cm (3.1 and 7.9 in) tall and could be pink, orange or red. It finally collapses just 24 hours after emerging from the egg. Then it rots away. For real, this time.

Image: Juaninda (Juan Sevilla) via Flickr

Is it beautiful? Is it disgusting? Do all those flies spoil something that could otherwise be displayed right in the middle of your dining room table?

I'm simple. I just call it Monstrous!