Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Phallales
Family: Phallaceae
Genus: Ileodictyon
Species: I. cibarium
Binomial name: Ileodictyon cibarium
Common name: Basket fungus, white basket fungus
Ileodictyon cibarium is a saprobic species of fungus in the family Phallaceae. It is native to New Zealand, Australia, and Chile (introduced in East Africa and Europe). This fungus grows alone or clustered together all year round near woody debris, in lawns, gardens and cultivated soil in tropical and subtropical areas.
It is commonly known as the basket fungus or the white basket fungus, alluding to the fruiting bodies that are shaped somewhat like a round or oval cage-like structure (5-25 cm across) with interlaced or latticed branches forming 10-30 polygons. The white branches are lumpy, about 1 cm in diameter and are not thickened at the intersections.
The mature fruiting body is foul-smelling and covered with an olive-brown spore slime on the inner surfaces. Prior to the opening of the volva, the fruiting body is egg-shaped and white to greyish in colour.
A mature basket with a new juvenile (egg) on the left
The egg 6 cm across,
The egg cut in half to showing the interlaced branches before they expand to form the basket like fruiting body.
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
