Nature, You Are Amazing

I found this today as I was pulling weeds from my very neglected flower bed on the north side of the house.

At first I was unsure if it was something that had been growing under all the weeds, or if it was a piece of plastic from a long forgotten toy, or something else entirely. It was just really strange to find amidst the weeds and wood chips.

The more I looked at it the more I thought it was a fungus, so I pulled my phone from my jeans pocket and typed in "orange tube fungus" and the very first result was an image of this very odd-looking thingamajig.

It is the mutinus elegans. I figured elegans meant elegant, and it does, so whoever named this certainly had a sense of humor. It really isn't all that elegant in my humble opinion. I read further and learned the fungus is more commonly referred to as the "elegant stinkhorn," the "dog stinkhorn," the "headless stinkhorn," or, and this is my personal favorite, the "devil's dipstick." Just so fun learning about this little orange fungus.

Another interesting aspect of this fungus is it's more typically found in the eastern parts of North America. I'm wondering how it ended up here, smack dab in the middle of the US (though it has been found in Iowa and as far west as Colorado, so it is extending its reach). I'm wondering if it's just not seen a lot. Had I been using a rake rather than pulling by hand, I might have totally missed it. 

This reminded me of being out in Massachusetts when Lovely Beautiful Daughter lived there. The boys and I visited for a long weekend, and during our stay, we ventured into the woods for a hike. I spotted another fungus that day that I instantly fell in love with. It was a very, very pale pink, verging on being white, and it was so delicate. It looked like a shepherd's hook. I know I have a photo of it somewhere, but who knows what file it's in. I was so enamored by that fungus that I searched and searched to find what kind it was. I finally found it: the Monotropa uniflora, aka ghost plant, ghost pipe, or Indian pipe. It is also sometimes referred to as the corpse plant because it turns black soon after it's picked and dies. And, it's not really a fungus. It's a flower. It's a member of the blueberry family.

Nature is just so cool. While I'm not as wild about the devil's dipstick like I am the ghost plant, I do find it incredibly interesting. I kinda hope I see more pop up in my flower bed. If I do, I'll be sure to leave them be. While the green slimy bit is pretty gross, the orange part is pretty. It's also just funny. I mean, the devil's dipstick. Who came up with that and why?