What the hell is this?

[Drew]

Found at Wallace's Hut near Falls Creek. It's the only one we saw in 5 days walking. I assume it's some sort of carnivorous plant? I should have taken a shot from another angle - it had a tube going into the ground. We thought it might be connected to a huge underground monster and would send up more of these to swallow us in the night. In the end that didn't happen. I guess it wasn't hungry...

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[stepbystep]

Number 3 on this list I think.

http://ellerg.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/m ... nique.html

[Drew]

That looks like the one! Thanks. I did wonder after we'd left if it might have had a carrion smell but if it did it wasn't very strong. I should have taken a sniff up close.

[Tortoise]

yep, we saw quite a few in NSW and Vic high country. The first time, though, we weren't quite sure if we were seeing things

[Earwig]

Probably a Red Star Fungus also known as a stinkhorn coz they stink. Next time you see one stick your nose in the middle and take a good whiff and you'll understand. Probably taste horrible too so don't bite it.

Or it could be the feeding pores of the Alpine Yowie - stick your finger in the middle and the arms quickly close around it, dragging your whole body in. Happened to a walking companion of mine on a trip up Feathertop back in '02. Gobbled him up and spat out his boots the next morning.

[wayno]

aka TRIFFID

[Overlandman]

Back in the 90's I found one beside the track near the old toilet at Waterfall Valley, took a few photos & sent them to Parks, they hadnt seen this fungi on the Overland Track before.
Regards Overlandman

[corvus]

Tis indeed a "stinkhorn" and from memory Overlandman mentioned in a message to me that he thought they only occur over a decomposed animal ? I have only ever seen two in my many years of walking in Tasmania interesting thing it does not rate a mention in the book I have of Fungi of Tasmania and SE Australia
corvus