Just a little mold :) this won't hurt the plant the plants are just staying wet a bit too long. This is waaay more likely than a fungus conspiracy. change the wattering schedule or the conditions around the plants ie soil, light, or temp. This is an indicator though, something should be worked out or root rot could develope.

.. Thanks for the ID. It seems there's a broad family of stinkhorns and after a cursory look, it would seem this one is a Lysurus mokusin, common in southern California. I found this web searching: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lysurus_mokusin.html I had noticed a smell before when there were a few under the pine tree but there's a steady breeze around here and the one pictured was all by itself in the open and close to the street. Thanks again ..

Thanks for the replies. I've added your information and disclaimers to my cardfile of plants. When you garden, you just never know where nature will lead, do you? Indiana_Ron, I will be paying closer attention to these fungi appearing around my garden. I am not even THINKING about eating any home grown fungi, I am simply curious about what made them appear all over the garden. Of course, I do not use commercial fertilizer (except the Sierra tabs or granules), I don't put out poisons, except for the pyrethrin compounds, because of my two little dogs. I was asking in case there was something poisonous growing which might appeal to a dog's appetite. I was intrigued by the plant/fungi with the peachy red coloring, never saw it before. But today, I found a similar plant which is dried up more, and it was perhaps attached to an azalea or camellia sasanqua stump. We had to cut down some really ancient azaleas last winter, and the stumps for them seemed to be a foot across at the soil line. Greenman, the first two pics were taken with a Sony Sureshot T700 camera, which is so small I have trouble holding it still. The last few pictures are done with my new camera, not a DSLR, but a larger camera with a lot of bells on it. The Nikon Coolpix P500 got it on a Black Friday sale last week. Easier to grip this one and I am having a lot of fun learning how to take advantage of all its features.

Hi- We're terrarium neophytes and I'm hoping some of you have experience that could help us. We're in the process of setting up a terrarium for poison dart frogs. We haven't gotten the frogs yet. We have set up the habitat though, and in less than a week we have a fungus problem. We'd like to know 1) is this fungus likely to harm our future frogs and 2) what can we do about it? We know about springtails and will try them, but is there anything else we can do? We are also going to get a little laptop fan to help with airflow (we have a waterfall and mister, so hopefully that won't cause a problem witht he humidity). If we need to clean out and start all over again, how do we prevent this from happening in the future (the spores are now unlikely to be removable from the terrarium). Our substrate is coconut fiber with a layer of purchased mosses on top. The fungus is a white spiderwebby thing that is in the coconut, but sending fruiting bodies up through the mosses. There are a few plants in there, but we haven't finished adding those yet. The plants, as yet, seem to be unaffected. The jury is still out on whether or not the mosses are succumbing to their housemate. Any tips and suggestions would be most welcome! Thanks a lot!! Susan