Aseröe rubra
Starfish fungus
This fungus, fairly common in Australia and New Zealand, was the first Australian fungus to be formally described. It has been sighted in South Africa and is found on some Pacific islands. It exists in North America as well, and is the most common stinkhorn in Hawaii.
Identification: I don’t think there is anything that looks remotely like this fungus. But if you are uncertain about it, take a whiff. If it smells like rotting meat, you have a match. It uses this odor to attract flies, which distribute its spores. More photos are available from MushroomExpert.com.
This photo by petrichor won Botany Photo of the Day. It was taken in southeastern Australia. 
This photo by Cas Liber, from New South Wales, Australia, shows that there is significant variation in shape. 
Online References:
11/16/2001 · Kauai Island, Hawaii · By Stanley W. Kent 
| Roughly 75 people in North America are poisoned each year by mushrooms, often from eating a poisonous species that resembles an edible species. Though deaths are rare, there is no cure short of a liver transplant for severe poisoning. Don’t eat any mushroom unless you are absolutely certain of its identity! Please don’t trust the identifications on this site. We aren’t mushroom experts and we haven’t focused on safely identifying edible species. |
Aseröe rubra description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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