The mushroom with very foul smell but edible

 I would like to show you the distinctive shaped mushroom with very foul smell but edible. This mushroom is called a stinkhorn mushroom in English.　But in Japan, we call it a mushroom of softshell turtle, since the head of mushroom looks like that of a soft-shelled turtle.

 This mushroom occurs in habitats rich in wood debris such as decayed dead branch, leaves and logs in forests.  In this case, the mushroom is half buried in decayed woody debris. 

Young mushrooms are egg-shaped or spherical and squishy when touched.

 The inside appearance changes depending on the direction in which the young mushroom is cut.

 In the center, there is a white structure called the receptaculum (the stalk when expanded), it is said that is hard, but has an airy structure like a sponge. On the outside of it, there is a dark green layer (gleba) which will become the 'head' of the expanded fruit body. The basic body (gleba) covers the surface of the head and is a mucus-like dark green substances that emits a foul odor and attracts the insect such as flies.

 

 I've been aware of the young mushroom similar to a white ball since before in the woods. But I wanted to see the moment when this mushroom would break through its shell. So, I went to observe it almost every day. Finally, I was able to capture the moment when the mushrooms appeared.
 This is a mushroom that just appeared from the shell.  I think the dark green part called gleba has not yet emitted bad smell so much. This photo was taken at 10 AM on November 8th.  The gleba contains large number of spores of this mushroom and will smell foul later. According to the web-site, this smells like decaying flesh but edible if the head part is eliminated. But, anyway I don't feel like eating.

 When I came here again about 2 and half hours later, at 1:30 PM, many fly-like insects gathered from somewhere attracted by the stinky odor and moved around on the dark substance of gleba. The gleba turned somewhat black compared to the morning.

 The dispersal of spores is different from most "typical" mushrooms that spread their spores through the air.　The flies land in the gleba and in doing so collect the spore mass on their legs and carry it to other locations.

 After flies flew away,  I checked the mushroom. The blackish substance looks like melted a little. Probably it already smells foul. But I don't have the courage to sniff it out.　

 The blackish substance in gleba had gone in places, probably because it had been carried away by flies.

 I had thought that the stalk of the mushroom would grow longer in the afternoon, but in this case, they didn't elongate very much.

 This is the different mushroom after some time has passed since appearance and the dark green substance on the head might have been washed away by rain.