Summary: Most of the stinkhorns are covered under the Clubs category, but Clathrus ruber clearly cannot be considered a Club-like fungus. Features of this stinkhorn include 1) origin from a white "egg" which ruptures forming a volva, 2) mature fruiting body like an orange to red latticed ball, and 3) olive brown spore slime with a powerful stench.
Microscopic: spores 5-6 x 1.5-2.5 microns, oblong, smooth, (Arora), spores 4-6 x 1.5-2 microns, bacilloid, (Dring)
Notes: It has been reported from BC (in Redhead), OR (Paul Whitney via R. Bishop, pers. comm), found in CA (Arora), and recorded from Azores, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Russia, and Yugoslavia, (Dring).
Habitat and Range
Habitat
"solitary to densely gregarious or clustered in soil, wood chips, rich humus, etc.", (Arora), single or in small groups in woods, in grasslands, or in greenhouses, spring to late summer, (Lincoff), summer to fall (Buczacki)