Monday, March 31, 2008

A Strange Mushroom ( Zombie Hand )

Some days ago, a strange plant grow itself in my garden. I know that Indonesia is a country rich in biodiversity, but most people, including me are ignorant about it. Anyway, Indonesia's biodiversity, never failed to make me wonder about how creative the nature is.




Because of the spongy structure of the strange plant, we decide that is is some kind of mushroom. The shape resemble a zombie hand, digging itself out from the its grave, which is the reason why I decide to give it it's current name, Zombie Hand. Another reason for it's current name we gave to it, is because we suspect, that the origin of this plant is its seed that had been dormant for years, inside the compost we purchased and place in that particular area of my garden.




The strange plant, attracted the attention of my whole family because it smell so bad, like dead fish or dead rat. Our curiousity however, doesn't let us to remove it, because it may turn out to grow into some interesting plant.




Some of my employees, told me that this plant have also grown in their home, but their version of the same plant is more colorful than the one grown in my garden. They also said that this kind plant, which grow in their home, also emit somehow unpleasant smell.




I would like someone to identify what is the scientific name for this strange plant, along with the name of their ordo, families, and genus. Everyone in my home is curious abot this particular plant.

43 comments:

corevil said...

that looks nice :)

Anonymous said...

This appears to be in the Phallus (Stinkhorn) genus. Which species I do not know.
Don J

Anonymous said...

I believe it is an Clathrus Columnatus, or Octopus Stinkhorn (sometimes called 'deadman's fingers')

Anonymous said...

If it's a mushroom, then it's a fungus, not a plant. :_)

Anonymous said...

Sometimes the knowledge of the internet can be astounding. See above for proof

Anonymous said...

Call it a plant one more time and I'll throttle you with that STINKHORN MUSHROOM.



I am more than a little amazed that someone with such inferior knowledge of flora(such as the subtle differences between plants and fungus) would attempt to grow anything at all.

Anonymous said...

@previous post

english obviously isn't his first language, and wanting to grow plants in your yard doesn't mean you should have a substantial and wide-ranging knowledge of plants. get a life man

@author
thanks for sharing the pictures

Anonymous said...

@previous

The difference between a mushroom and a plant is not exactly what I would call widely reaching knowledge.

Anonymous said...

@ previous, yeah, but that doesnt make you any less of a douchebag

@author wow! creepy photos haha

Unknown said...

why is this anonymous pedant bitching so much about "plant" vs. "mushroom"? Shut up, already. No one cares about your nitpicking nonsense. Just enjoy the pictures or GTFO.

Anonymous said...

I'm partial to Phallus Impudicus, "named by a French mycological pioneer with a French sense of humor."

Anonymous said...

Henceforth, anyone posting as anonymous shall be considered to be the same person, and therefore arguing with him/herself.

Anonymous said...

It is a zombie hand mushroom,
from now on.
Adam

Anonymous said...

It should now be called the Zombie Hand Mushroom.

It is beautiful!

Kaylee said...

Forget the plant/mushroom debate. That thing is a zombie and it will eat your family's brains. Hack it off, burn the garden to the ground, and move!!! Before it kills us all!!! ARGGHHH!!!!!

Anonymous said...

omg it really looks like a freaking hand, did you eat it ;) ?!

Anonymous said...

whioah man th\at is like so trippy man so cool dude like whoah, trippy man plant mushroom man i need to go to

get some plant mushroom plant zombie man trippy shit.


like whoah

Anonymous said...

i have seen this in my dreams.
this exact one.
in that garden.
on this blog...
it's all happening according to sychronicity...
if you know what i mean..contact me...
you will know how to do that..
i presume..
if the spores weren't lying to me...

Stereocilia said...

Is this it?
Clathrus archeri "Devil's fingers"

Scroll down to "Table 2. Miscellaneous other woodchip fungi"
It's on the left side.

Wage said...

might be from the rafflesia plant genus. a stinky plant that uses smell to attract flies for pollination

Anonymous said...

Wow that's awesome.

Anonymous said...

You guys are retarded who are saying "it's a fungus not a plant" the guy sounds ESL from the way his sentences are composed. He's from Indonesia, I bet you guys don't know the two different words for plant and fungus Indonesian now do you? Stop nit picking and trying to be coy grammar nazis. Cool fungus btw.

Anonymous said...

"KNOW ENGLISH OR I HATE YOU"

god damn guys shut the hell up

Stephen Grey said...

Indonesians know ways of killing you that you can't pronounce.

Anonymous said...

....I knew what this was because of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

I don't know if I should feel sad or what.

Anonymous said...

I'd f--k that sexy mushroom.

Anonymous said...

http://www.pestweb.com/pestimages/600/stinkhorn_10.jpg
Looks a lot like this :)

ZFR said...

jek, lo masuk front page DIGG.com!!!
selamat yaaa!!
http://digg.com/general_sciences/A_Strange_Mushroom_Zombie_Hand

Anonymous said...

Indonesians know ways of killing you that you can't pronounce...

Anonymous said...

For accurate identification: How many arms did this fungus have? Did the arms separate from each other at their apex? A poorly known species described from the Philippines as Anthurus brownii is similar, but without answers to the previous two questions and more information on scale, it will be difficult to identify this with certainty.

Anonymous said...

whoop de do, you got a fungus in your garden. get rid of it, i doube that it is anything relevant to your interests.

Anonymous said...

Clathrus archeri
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Clathrus_archeri.html

Anonymous said...

To the plant/fungi morons: The whole idea of "plant" vs. "fungus" is something made up by European scientists prior to the 20th century. Knowing this historical system won't help your gardening skills.

If you're going to be a jerk about it, get with the 21st century and call it an opisthokont.

Author: Thanks for posting those awesome pictures.

Anonymous said...

It is a mushroom. The reason for the bad smell is to attract flying insects. This is it's way of dispensing it's spores.

Anonymous said...

That mushroom really does look like
a hand. Never seen a mushroom like
that. Very cool

thanks from tony

Crazy Raven Productions said...

Seriously cool mushroom!

And I love it when people feel the need to be snarky assholes, yet don't feel obliged to own up to it. Right, Anonymous?

Anonymous said...

"Zombie-hand mushroom" FTW!

Txo said...

Feed it, Seymour... and it will grow big and strong!

Anonymous said...

It is a Stink Horn, possible the genus Aseroƫ.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2006/08/aseroe_rubra.php

It arises from an "egg" stage, see the shell around the "wrist." In this early (young) stage the fingers are together. As it matures the finger tips will move apart exposing the colored (dark green) sticky spore mass. The mass smells like carrion and attracts flies. The spores stick to the flies and are dispersed as the fly lands on rotting leaves, etc.

Anonymous said...

That my friend.. is unorthodox! Thanks for sharing photos.

Taylor said...

Hi Fendy,

I remember Surubaya. I was on my way to Kalimantan hunting mushrooms.
You photo is probably of an Aseroe arachnoidea.
Taylor

bernard boutrit said...

Hi,
I'm a photoresearcher at Science & Vie Decouverte (French science magazine for kids). We would very much like to publish the 1st picture in your post. Please contact me as soon as possible: iconosvd@mondadori.fr
Thank you and best regards

Martie said...

I came across your blog while looking for "garden zombie" sculptures, believe it or not. I was so fascinated by it that I became obsessed with finding out what it was. I am 99% sure it is a "Psedocolus Fusiformis" also called "The Stinky Squid" mushroom. I know this comment is long after you discovered this amazing thing, but I just wanted to thank you for sharing it and causing me to stretch my brain a bit. I have a Halloween related blog and will be mentioning your discovery and providing a link to your blog.