Phallus calongei
Phallus calongei is a species of stinkhorn mushroom. Found in Pakistan, it was described as new to science in 2009. Starting out as an "egg", the fully expanded fruit body consists of a single, thick, stipe with a cap attached to the apex and covered with olive-green, slimy spore-containing gleba. It is distinguished from other similar Phallus species by a combination of features, including a pinkish, reticulated cap, and a stipe that is tapered at both ends. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown.
Systematics
Phallus calongei was discovered on June 16, 2008, near the Khanspur stream in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. It was described as new to science in a 2009 Mycotaxon publication. The specific epithet calongei honors Spanish mycologist Francisco D. Calonge who has written extensively on the Gasteromycetes, and who has himself published or co-published three Phallus species: P. atrovolvatus, P. maderensis and P. minusculus. P. calongei is one of four Phallus species known to exist in Pakistan, the others being P. celebicus, P. impudicus, and P. rubicundus.According to the infrageneric classification scheme proposed by German mycologist Hanns Kreisel in 1996, Phallus calongei belongs in the subgenus Phallus, section Flavophallus of the genus Phallus. Other species in this section include P. flavocostatus, P. tenuis, P. formanosus, P. calichrous, P. multicolor, and P. cinnabarinus. A number of features distinguish P. calongei from these, including: an undeveloped white volva, a stipe tapered at both ends, a deeply pitted and reticulate cap surface with pinkish ridges, and no indusium.
Description
As a member of the genus Phallus, the shape of P. calongei mushrooms assume the general form of a phallus with a single elongated hollow stipe topped by a bulbous cap-like structure at the apex. The fruit bodies of P. calongei start out appearing similar to whitish "eggs", with a membranous exoperidium and gelatinous, translucent endoperidium. The exoperidium remains at the base of the fruit body as a thin, membranous, undeveloped white volva.The fully expanded fruit body consists of a single, thick, stalk with a ridged and pitted cap attached to the apex; the cap is covered with olive-green, slimy gleba. The fruit body can reach up to tall and thick. It is whitish and hollow, slightly tapered at both ends, and has a wall that consists of layers of perforated chambers. At the apex of the stalk is the "cap", which can be up to high and thick. It is bell-shaped to conical-truncate with a pitted surface. As the gleba dissipates, the cap surface becomes strongly reticulated—forming a network of raised pinkish ridges. The tip of the cap is truncated, with a depressed and perforated surface. The gleba is olive-green, fetid, and deliquescent.
The spores are ellipsoid, smooth, and hyaline, measuring 3.5–4.5 by 1.5–2.0 μm. The edibility of the mushroom has not been determined.