So I have solved the Rhodotus palmatus odor mystery! Field guides typically list it as having no odor. As it turns out, it’s actually the stinkiest mushroom I’ve ever come across, but only SOME people can smell it!

I had a sample and 20 willing, perhaps reluctant, participants. Of them, only myself and one little boy could smell it. It is a pungent, minty, chemically smell, reminiscent of camphor. (The little boy described it as peppermint.) It’s so strong I can smell it through a sealed ziplock baggie.