Any idea what this is?

[xkubr]

Location: Durban, South Africa (east coast).
Climate: sub-tropical (coastal)

Although I am curious to know what plant this is (assuming it is a plant), I am more interested to know if it is poisonous.

Thanks.

[applestar]

I'm pretty sure it's a fungus/mushroom. It *might* be lobster claw mushroom... At least that's what first came to mind, but looking around the net images, I can't find any that look like yours, so I have no idea.

In addition, now that I am paying attention, I see you said this was found in South Africa -- wow now I REALLY have no idea!

I would NOT rely on anyone to tell you if a mushroom is poisonous or not over the Internet. You need an expert to actually look at it and make whatever identification tests they need to do.

[rainbowgardener]

I agree with everything applestar said. I did some looking around too and couldn't find your fungus exactly, but here's a little illustration of the rich and varied similar forms these fungi can take:


http://www.mushroomexpert.com/images/co ... bra_01.jpg

this one is called stinkhorn: This awesome stinkhorn appears in tropical and subtropical areas. In the United States it is common in Hawaii

Here's the lobster claw fungus applestar mentioned:


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9UV2i2ds8Yg/S ... us+040.JPG

then there's the dog vomit slime mold:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/images/fuligo1b.jpg
it sometimes occurs in more orange colors

orange jelly fungus:

http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Wildflow ... -Jelly.jpg

etc etc

So sorry, I still don't know exactly what yours is, but some kind of fungus