LITTLE BIG STINKHORN

Stinkhorn Mushroom

(Photo courtesy of Silas Kaumakahia Aqui)

Another UGO (unidentified growing object) siting in Wailua Homesteads on the island of Kauai makes today's blog headlines.

My brother, Charlie, found this particular oddity specimen growing just a foot away from the original one he'd seen a few weeks ago.  Here is the link for new readers to peruse and for other to review:

http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/2011/05/alien-trespasser.html

This clearly is a testament to Mother Nature's way of using the ants that were busily carrying on their transactions amidst the gooey secretions of the original stinkhorn to transport any adhering spores to another site.  

Among the faithful followers of Hawaiian Odysseus are several amateur mycologists (mushroom scientists).  It is our hope that you find these occasional blog posts about your favorite biological subject interesting and provocative and...maybe...an additional incentive for finally making that trip to the jurassic Garden Island.

In closing, here's a closeup of  what Hawaiian Odysseus has dubbed, LITTLE BIG STINKHORN.

See, but don't smell!

(Photo courtesy of Silas Kaumakahia Aqui)

PUPU, ANYONE?

Tako Drying in the Sun

(Photo courtesy of Silas Kaumakahia Aqui)

One of my most popular posts to date addresses the God-given penchant of my brother, Charlie, for capturing octopus (TAKO in Japanese; HE'E in Hawaiian).

(Click on this link or on the right margin reference to this particular post:  

 http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-brother-charlie-excellent-octopus.html)

Weather patterns all over the world have been helter skelter, and Hawaii has definitely been no exception.  But now that the glorious sun has shown its face more consistently over The Garden Isle, Charlie put his makeshift drying kit together and set it outside in the yard.  Tentacled legs and mantle pieces are evenly placed between two screens with boarded foundations.  The rest is up to the sun.

The dried octopus, like its beef or turkey counterparts, is an excellent snack or PUPU (Hawaiian for hors d'oeuvre).  It is an excellent source of protein and a catalyst for the saliva glands.  

If the weather is mellow and the ocean action off the southeast shore of Kauai remains calm tomorrow, Charlie will join my brother, Glenn, and Glenn's son, Jared, on a deep sea fishing expedition.  They will be fishing for AKU (bonito), PAPIO and ULUA (respectively, juvenile and mature trevally or jackfish), and other deep sea fish.

(See:  http://hawaiianodysseus.blogspot.com/2011/05/success-on-virgin-voyage-of-kaimalia.html)

Next month, my brothers and I, along with our sister and her family and relatives will have a much  anticipated reunion with our father who lives on the east coast.

This will be a wonderful occasion for everyone, but it will be especially huge for my dad and me because we haven't seen each other for thirty-three years!

Hopefully, the brothers will be blessed with an abundant catch.  Dried aku is quite a delicacy. Together, with the dried tako and other Hawaiian delights, and always accompanied by poi, we'll have a grand time catching up on good times and sharing sweet memories.

Vintage Hawaiian--life at its best!

ALIEN TRESPASSER?

Stink Horn Mushroom
(Photo courtesy of Silas K. Aqui)

Aliens already inhabit our planet.

While taking care of his chores the other day, my brother, Charlie, came across one of these extraterrestrials.  I want to share with you his own words...

 I was taking out the trash and looked down below the hedges and spotted this mushroom.  At first, I thought it was a kid's toy and then looked closer and realized it was a live mushroom. I live  next to the wettest spot in the world, Mt. Wai'ale'ale, on the Garden Island of Kauai. This is the second time I've seen this mushroom. As you can see, the stem is a bright orange, and the cap looks like creamy chocolate.

--Silas Kaumakahia Aqui (aka Charlie)

A small army of ants had already been dispatched by their queen to forage this unusual mushroom.  The alluring colors and sticky, stink to humans but aromatic to insects, chocolate-colored cap attracted our six-footed miniature friends.  (If you look closely at the picture or have the ability to zoom in for a close-up, you can see the ants clustered just below the brown cap.)

Indeed, the very action of ants or other living organisms traipsing around in the gooey substance ensures the proliferation of this unusual mushroom.  Spores become attached to the insects because of the slime and are thus rapidly and effectively spread to other areas.

Charlie wasted no time in attempting to identify this new arrival in the yard.  He emailed the mycologists (mushroom experts) at mushroompatch.com and asked them for help in identifying the stranger.

It took the experts four days to respond, but they actually were able to identify the subject.

The mushroom is called a Stink Horn.  The link below will take you to an article with great information about this uncommon mushroom.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/mutinus_elegans.html
(With acknowledgment and gratitude to Michael Kuo and the mushroomexpert.com staff.)

My brother's sharp eye and follow-up made for another fun-to-write post.  It certainly got me thinking about the possibility someday--another of my bucket list agenda--of hiking around in the Olympic Forest of Washington state and looking for mushrooms.