What is this plant of fungus?

January 18, 2012 9:45 AM

What is this plant or fungus found in the Catskills of NY?

Here is another picture.

I was found it in the Catskills while hiking in late December of 2011 at around 2600ft.

The bottom one is deformed because I touched it with my finger. When I touched it a puff of stuff came out of the pink nipple.

The whole thing is about 1" to 2".

posted by bdc34 to science & nature (2 answers total)

I'm not at all confident with mushroom IDs, but possibly Stalked Puffball-in-aspic (Calostoma cinnabarinum).

See here and here.
posted by nobodyyouknow at 11:04 AM on January 18, 2012

Thanks NYK. The base did seem like dirt covered goo.
posted by bdc34 at 12:40 PM on January 18, 2012