Aunt Etty and the Stinkhorn

Aunt Etty and the Stinkhorn would be a great name for a children’s book. It has a ring to it. It rolls off the lips. And, in fairness, the story itself has a distinct Roald Dhal vibe. A full account was given by Charles Darwin’s granddaughter, who described her aunt Etty’s revulsion for the Stinkhorn mushroom. As a daughter of Charles Darwin, Aunt Etty should have known better, but it was the shape of the mushroom that disturbed her. Its Latin name perhaps gives us a clue Phallus impudicus. Apart from its distinctly phallic shape, the stinkhorn had other, more unpleasant qualities. It emitted a pungent smelling slime that attracted flies, which in turn dispersed its spores and so allowed it to spread

Unfortunately for the stinkhorn, that same smell attracted its nemesis: Aunt Etty. 

They are extremely good for the soil, and for those with strong stomachs and a yen for castration, their innards have a nice, crisp radish-like taste to them. So I’ve been told.

Aunt Etty (Henrietta Lichfield walking with Erasmus Darwin). You can almost see her nose twitching, though the habit may have aided her longevity – 1843-1927

Armed with a basket and a pointed stick, and wearing a special hunting cloak and gloves, she would sniff her way through the wood, pausing here and there, her nostrils twitching when she caught a whiff of her prey.

Then with a deadly and ferocious pounce she would attack the hapless mushroom, poking the obscenity into her basket.  When the great hunt was over her spoils were brought back and burnt in the deepest secrecy on the drawing room fire with the door locked. She had the morals of her maids to consider

For someone so repulsed by the stinkhorn, Aunt Etty spent more time than most in seeking them out, and in doing so performed better than any number of flies in dispersing their spores. The stink that proved so irresistible to flies, proved irresistible to Aunt Etty too. Motivated by disgust and horror, she enveloped the humble stinkhorns within the folds of Victorian morality and in doing so aided their spread. There must be a moral there somewhere.