About Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C.Tul.
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C.Tul. has an egg-shaped fruit body that is white to greyish before its outer skin opens. After opening, the fruit body becomes a whitish mesh-like ball that can reach up to 25 cm in diameter. John Buchanan created illustrations of the different growth stages of this fungus. Ileodictyon cibarium is similar in appearance to Ileodictyon gracile (smooth cage fungus), which is also native to Australia, and is sometimes confused with it. Both species form whitish mesh balls of similar size, but they can be told apart by features of the receptacle arms that make up the mesh. Compared to I. gracile, I. cibarium has a thicker mesh, with wrinkled arms that are around 5 times wider, elliptical in cross section, and not thickened at the points where the arms meet. Ileodictyon cibarium is native to New Zealand and Australia, and has been introduced to Chile, Brazil, Africa, and England. It grows either alone or in clustered groups near woody debris, and can be found in lawns, gardens, cultivated soil, along roads, and in forests. As part of the fungus' reproductive cycle, its strongly scented gleba attracts flies, which then disperse the fungus' spores to new locations.
