Suggestive ‘Shroom Packs Phallic Fun

A fungus among us surprisingly hung

The secret's out about a curious-looking new species mushroom and it has an even curiouser name: Phallus drewesii.

Aptly named for its suggestive appearance, the Latin translation is: Drew's penis. Scientist and Palo Alto native Bob Drewes discovered the suggestive-looking 'shroom in the tiny nation of São Tomé off the coast of West Africa.

Drewes, the curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences, told the Mercury News that he was "utterly delighted" to having the not-so-well-endowed species named after him.

"The funny thing is that it is the second smallest known mushroom in this genus and it grows sideways, almost limp," he said of the two-inch long fungus.

Science students will no doubt get a rise out of the name and have a hard time getting through this lesson without cracking up for years to come.

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