Stinkhorn mushroom. View of a stinkhorn mushroom (Phallus impudicus). The dark tip of the fungus contains spores in a foul-smelling slime. The smell attracts flies whose legs become coated in slime when they land. They then act as a means of spore dispersal. Stinkhorns grow on or near rotting wood in summer to late autumn. Only the egg-like stage, from which the mushroom grows, is edible.