Mysterious backyard find stinking of 'dead rat' stumps Aussie
The 'stinky' growths are common across Australia.
A mysterious find in a resident's home has left her questioning what on earth she has unintentionally grown, as an expert warned "slime" was likely to follow.
The unknown growth was found in her yard in Darwin, initially catching her attention due to the swarm of flies that appeared to be attracted to it.
"What have I grown?" she questioned online. "[It's] surrounded by flies and smells like a dead rat."
Despite the strong smell, which has been likened to "rotten meat" by one expert, plant pathologist Brett Summerell from the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney identified it as a stinkhorn fungus and called it "harmless".
"It's common name is Stinky Squid," he told Yahoo News. "It is harmless and not toxic and the stink deters anyone from eating them!"
The 'stink' and 'slime' are important, expert explains
There are many different types of stinkhorn fungi and all are interestingly shaped, however they all have the stink in common.
There is one reason why this is the case — to attract flies. Their usual shape also adds to the fungi's ability to do this as it increases the surface area to "produce spores in a slime" and trap the flies.
"It has an unpleasant smell... colours can be variable. The arms emerge from an egg-like structure and spread wide so that they can produce spores in a slime that attracts as many flies as possible," Summerell explained.
The Darwin resident isn't the first Aussie to find a stinkhorn fungus in their yard as they grow widely across Australia. In May a Sydneysider spotted one and compared its shape to a fictitious monster in the TV show Stranger Things. Last year a Queenslander also spotted one in their yard which resembled some kind of tongue.
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