Schtinky!
Richárd Novák had given me
GPS coordinates for a Pinguicula lusitanica site, but navigation in Sintra is
certainly not trivial. There are no straight drives--you simply get on a road, and if it wanders and winds in a direction
that works for you, then it works. If not, you try
another. Eventually, you try to reach to your goal. My GPS my map datum did not cover Portugal, so
was not very helpful.
In time, we got close enough to my GPS target point to park the car and continue on foot. Soon after stopping, I smelled
something bad--a nasty roadkill aroma was floating in the air. We traced the bouquet to a few of these horrifyingly
lovely fungi, Clathrus ruber.
This fungus is not carnivorous, but rather it uses its odor to attract flies, which presumably help transport spores from
place to place. You can see a few of the iridescent flies in this image.
