Basket fungus

Overview

Ileodictyon cibarium is a stinkhorn fungus of New Zealand. It is known in English as the basket fungus or lattice fungus. It begins as an egg-like body, then breaks open and expands into a white, latticed basket with a foul smell.

The historical records of food use concern the unexpanded egg, or the outer shell of the young fruiting body. They do not describe the mature basket as food.

Names

The Landcare Research name record cites about thirty-five Māori names for the species, drawn from a 2017 compilation. Among them are tūtae-whatitiri, popo-whatitiri, mata-kupenga, tūtae-kēhua and tūtae-whetū.

The name tūtae-whatitiri is linked in the sources to the fungus's sudden appearance and to the thunder god Whatitiri.

Historical food use

Colenso (1868) and Kirk (in Taylor, 1870) recorded the fungus as food. Colenso (1880) states that only the outer shell was eaten, when young and before it burst. Once it burst, Colenso described an unendurable stench.

A quoted passage describes the unbroken young stage as lacking the offensive odour of the mature fungus, comparing the difference to a fresh-laid and an addled egg. This is the reason given in the sources for eating the young stage only.

Traditions and accounts

Beattie (1920) relates a raid tradition, Kai-wharetua, in which the war party Te Taua-a-Te-Whareatua is named. An informant, Mrs Wesley, told Beattie that the whareatua is not a proper mushroom and is thin and pale inside.

The historical accounts differ on the detail of preparation, and the record does not settle which part was eaten or how it was cooked. Later summaries describe roasting or hāngī cooking, but those accounts are not traced here to early primary records.

Ecology

The catalogue describes the fungus as a soil and litter saprotroph, and records its supply as wild. No cultivation is recorded.

Safety and identification

The Landcare Research record makes no statement about current edibility or safety. The catalogue marks the historical record as needing modern verification, and notes that mature foul-smelling baskets are not the documented edible stage.

Stinkhorn fungi are not identified by a food record. No edibility verdict for any stage follows from these historical accounts. Anyone considering this fungus should have it identified by a New Zealand expert and should not eat a mature basket.