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ORLANDO, Fla. _ After unyielding rains, slimy puffballs emerge from the earth.
Also triggered by heat and humidity, wild mushroom clusters are popping up everywhere in Central Florida. This may be one of the biggest summers for the fleshy, sometimes stinky foliage, say mycologists _ the scientists who study the fungus family.
Leave it to the rain to put the fun back in fungi.
"Look at that beauty," said Karen Steinberg, 41, while mushroom hunting in her back yard recently in Orlando.
She bent to examine a perfect coral-colored mushroom hiding under her split-leaf philodendron.
"These little guys are definitely the most attractive," she said. "Most of them look like they're sliming out."
Although they may look enticing, never, ever do what Alice in Wonderland did, experts say. If you eat one, you might die.