WHAT IS IT?
Judging by its common name, there are at least two ways of looking at a bridal veil stinkhorn (its scientific name, Phallus indusiatus, meaning 'skirted penis', makes it three). Apparently, there are also two ways of smelling it. In fact, the mushroom’s distinctive odour seems to provoke reactions that are about as different as it’s possible for reactions to an odour to be. It is most commonly described as smelling like something has died (it attracts flesh flies to distribute its spores), but a controversial study published in a scientific journal in 2001 claimed that its scent could induce mild spontaneous orgasms in women. Which is not to be sniffed at.