One day I woke up to this terrible odor. I looked around inside my house and could not find the smell! When I walked outside to get the paper, the smell just rushed in my face. I saw these orange plants all over my yard. They weren't there the day before. They ended up lasting a couple days but the smell was bad! I searched the web forever and came up with the Octopus Stinkhorn (Anthurus archeri). However, once I tried to look up locations, I couldn't find anything about it. First off, is this the Anthurus archeri? And are they common in NY? Also, will they come back? Here are two pictures I took of the plant: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/CaFFiNeGrL54/Picture_0170.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/CaFFiNeGrL54/Picture_0171.jpg Many thanks!
Stinkhorns, or better Shithorns -- those are meant to stink in order to attract insects, mainly flies who spread the spores by picking the brown mass. What you have looks like Clathrus archeri... D. www.mushroomhobby.com