It has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical areas, and is found in southern Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia, where it grows in woodlands and gardens in rich soil and well-rotted woody material.

The mushroom, grown commercially and commonly sold in Asian markets, is rich in protein, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber.

P. indusiatus has a recorded history of use in Chinese medicine extending back to the 7th century CE, and features in Nigerian folklore.

Phallus indusiatus was initially described by French naturalist Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1798,[2] and sanctioned under that name by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1801.

[3] One author anonymously gave his impressions of Ventenat's discovery in an 1800 publication: This beautiful species, which is sufficiently characterised to distinguish it from every other individual of the class, is copiously produced in Dutch Guiana, about 300 paces from the sea, and nearly as far from the left bank of the river of Surinam.

It was communicated to me by the elder Vaillant,[N 1] who discovered it in 1755 on some raised ground which was never overflowed by the highest tides, and is formed of a very fine white sand, covered with a thin stratum of earth.

The prodigious quantity of individuals of this species which grow at the same time, the very different periods of their expansion, the brilliancy and the varied shades of their colours, present a prospect truly picturesque.

[8] A form with a pink-coloured indusium was reported by Vincenzo de Cesati in 1879 as Hymenophallus roseus, and later called Dictyophora indusiata f. rosea by Yosio Kobayasi in 1965;[9] it is synonymous with Phallus cinnabarinus.

The Japanese name Kinugasatake (衣笠茸 or キヌガサタケ), derived from the word kinugasa, refers to the wide-brimmed hats that featured a hanging silk veil to hide and protect the wearer's face.

[19] Immature fruit bodies of P. indusiatus are initially enclosed in an egg-shaped to roughly spherical subterranean structure encased in a peridium.

The "egg" ranges in color from whitish to buff to reddish-brown, measures up to 6 centimetres (2+1⁄4 inches) in diameter, and usually has a thick mycelial cord attached at the bottom.

The mature mushroom is up to 25 cm (10 in) tall and girded with a net-like structure called the indusium (or less technically a "skirt") that hangs down from the conical to bell-shaped cap.

[26] Common in eastern North America and Japan, and widely recorded in Europe,[27] the species P. duplicatus has a smaller indusium that hangs 3–6 cm (1+1⁄4–2+1⁄4 in) from the bottom of the cap, and sometimes collapses against the stalk.

[28] Found in Asia, Australia, Hawaii, southern Mexico, and Central and South America,[10] P. cinnabarinus grows to 13 cm (5 in) tall, and has a more offensive odor than P. indusiatus.

[29] P. echinovolvatus, described from China in 1988, is closely related to P. indusiatus, but can be distinguished by its volva that has a spiky (echinulate) surface, and its higher preferred growth temperature of 30 to 35 °C (86 to 95 °F).

[30] P. luteus, originally considered a form of P. indusiatus, has a yellowish reticulate cap, a yellow indusium, and a pale pink to reddish-purple peridium and rhizomorphs.

[22] Species recorded visiting the fungus include stingless bees of the genus Trigona,[44] and flies of the families Drosophilidae and Muscidae.

In the time of China's Qing dynasty, the species was collected in Yunnan Province and sent to the Imperial Palaces to satisfy the appetite of Empress Dowager Cixi, who particularly enjoyed meals containing edible fungi.

This dish, served by descendants of the Confucius family in celebrations and longevity banquets, contained ingredients that were "all precious food, delicacies from land and sea, fresh, tender, and crisp, appropriately sweet and salty".

[49] One source writes of the mushroom: "It has a fine and tender texture, fragrance and is attractive, beautiful in shape, fresh and crispy in taste.

"[50] The dried fungus, commonly sold in Asian markets, is prepared by rehydrating and soaking or simmering in water until tender.

Southern China's Miao people continue to use it traditionally for a number of afflictions, including injuries and pains, cough, dysentery, enteritis, leukemia, and feebleness, and it has been prescribed clinically as a treatment for laryngitis, leucorrhea, fever, and oliguria (low urine output), diarrhea, hypertension, cough, hyperlipidemia, and in anticancer therapy.

[60] The polysaccharide has tumour-suppressing activity against subcutaneously implanted sarcoma 180 (a transplantable, non-metastasizing connective tissue tumour often used in research) in mice.

Tyrosinase catalyzes the initial steps of melanogenesis in mammals, and is responsible for the undesirable browning reactions in damaged fruits during post-harvest handling and processing,[63] and its inhibitors are of interest to the medical, cosmetics, and food industries.