If you ask people, then to the question “What is the largest creature on Earth,” almost everyone will answer that blue whale. Some scientists even claim this. But they are only partially right. Yes, the blue whale is a large animal.
But most great creature living on earth is a mushroom. Moreover, it has been on the planet for several thousand years.
In fact, mushrooms are amazing creatures of nature. They differ from animals in physiology and the inability to move independently, but from plants in that they do not take energy and carbon from carbon dioxide and sunlight. Moreover, mushrooms typically contain chitin, which is found in invertebrates.
Today, people know about one hundred thousand mushrooms, and some of them bring a lot of benefits to humanity. Here we should not forget about antibiotics and penicillin. Well, besides medicine, mushrooms are used as food.
Almost all mushrooms grow in the form of a community of cells, which gathers into a thread of mycelium. And when they grow into a plant, they can develop a pressure of 800 tons per square meter. And these same mushroom threads play the role of the mouth and stomach of mushrooms. They release enzymes that break down potential food into components and eat the nutrients. It turns out that mushrooms grow inside the food they eat. By the way, when you cut a mushroom above the ground, a whole mycelium remains underneath it.
Meanwhile, desperate nerds and the most sophisticated gourmets are in shock. The size to which mushrooms can grow can be so impressive that no questions arise after what you see. It is unknown what factors can provoke the growth of fungi to unimaginable sizes. But it is clear that such anomalies are extremely rare; at least, only a few cases are known today.
Mushroom monster
For the first time, the general public learned about the giant Armillaria mushrooms only on April 2, 1992. One of the record holders ended up on the front page of the most popular newspaper, the New York Times. The publication described the discovery, according to reports, the interweaving of underground threads and above-ground mushrooms covered as many as 15 hectares of land. And all this was a single whole, which experts were able to prove. 
In the same year, another giant mushroom of the same species was found. It occupied a space of approximately 6 square kilometers. But even he was not the real record holder.
Most big mushroom on the planet grew up in Malheur National Park in Oregon's Blue Mountains. “Mushroom” covered an area of 890 hectares, which is approximately 1220 football fields. Scientists even calculated how long it took him to grow so huge. It turns out that the mushroom is at least 2400 years old. It belongs to the species Armilaria ostoyae, and is also known as a honey mushroom. However, you definitely cannot make soup from such a record holder, since it is inedible. On the surface, the mushroom leaves only dead trees and small mushrooms, the rest is underground.
“This is a single organism that begins its growth as a microscopic spore and then spreads like a plant,” say experts, “and if we could remove the bud and look at everything that remains, we would see a large single pile of one mushroom with all the threads mycelium."
Giant mushrooms
Here's the biggest one edible mushroom found by a certain Jean Guy Richard in Canada. In his basket was a unique raincoat (Calvatia gigantean). And he was truly gigantic. The mushroom weighed exactly 22 kilograms and was 2.64 meters in circumference. 
However, the Mexicans are truly lucky. In the summer of 2007, a mushroom weighing approximately 20 kilograms and more than 60 centimeters long was found on coffee plantations in the state of Chiaps in southeastern Mexico. It is noteworthy that he grew right among the coffee trees.
Another edible record holder, which was found in Italy, weighed 14 kilograms. It was discovered by Francesco Quito in the province of Bari. And it was champignon. To bring such a find home, the mushroom picker had to look for a car.
Well, the previous giant mushroom turned out to be a truffle. True, he weighed a little less than his predecessors, only 7 kilograms. And the most interesting thing is that the people who found the mushroom did not find anything better than to fry their find and eat it with their neighbors. And this is taking into account the fact that mushrooms in Italy are valued quite expensively, so the forest miracle could be sold profitably.
Another natural miracle met in the forests of Switzerland. An interesting fact: the huge mushroom turned out to be a simple mushroom. Scientists were truly amazed by its size, because no one had ever suspected that mushrooms such as honey mushrooms could become giants. And in fact, the size of the mushroom can inspire respect. Its length is 800 meters and its width is about half a kilometer. Its size covered 35 hectares. In principle, his age is not small, according to the most conservative estimates, one thousand years. Half a ton
The largest mushroom in the world
In 2011, there were reports that scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Hainan Island discovered a mushroom weighing approximately 402-516 kilograms. Since then it has been called the most big mushroom on the planet. Yu Cheng Dai and his colleagues made the discovery completely by accident. The company went on an expedition with one goal - to study representatives of the mushroom kingdom as a whole, they were especially interested in those that, of course, are found in the forests of their native island. 
The mushroom was assigned to the species Fomitiporia ellipsoidea, and his age was estimated at 20 years. Over the years, he managed to grow almost 11 centimeters in length, 88 centimeters in width and 5 centimeters in thickness. The mushroom has an unprecedented volume - 409-535 thousand cubic centimeters. However, three years earlier, also in China, but on another island of Fujian, similar huge mushrooms were discovered, although they were very different in size from their counterpart from Hainan.
Mushrooms are a separate class of amazing living organisms. But the largest plant is algae. According to the website, the largest plant in the world is Posidonia.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen
Giant thinking mushrooms of the Paleozoic.
Prototaxites– this creation haunted the scientific community for more than a hundred and fifty years. It did not belong to any biological kingdom. Huge organic living pillars towering in the middle of the Paleozoic swamps excited the scientific consciousness of specialists - paleontologists. And only modern research allows us to identify this giant creature the most ancient past of the Earth.
In 1859, the American scientist J. Dawson made the first scientific description of this organic creature. He first identified the fossils as impressions of rotten wood, somewhat similar to modern Yews (Taxus), and therefore gave the fossils the name Prototaxites. But the discovered fossils date back to the period 420 - 350 million years ago, and to the modern Yews in geological history The earth was still quite far away.
Later, in late XIX century, experts began to identify this creature as seaweed, to be more precise - brown seaweed. This opinion became prevalent and was included in scientific classification sources. However, imagine an algae, or rather - a tangled colony of algae, height of six meters(and sometimes 9 meters) - very difficult. Moreover, sections of fossils were completely different from similar sections of trees. Yes, and in general, this creature was not at all like trees. Peculiar rings on cuts - actually were, however, these are not the growth rings of modern trees.
The most important thing is that in those distant timesPrototaxiteswas the largest organism on land. Vertebrates had just begun to appear and therefore Wingless insects, ancient centipedes and worms swarmed around the giant living pillar.
The very first vascular plants. Which are the ancestors of coniferous and fern plants - appeared 40 million earlier than Prototaxites, but their size was very modest - no more than a meter from the ground.
The size classes of the discovered Prototaxites were as follows: Saudi Arabia a sample was discovered 5.4 meters long, with a diameter of 1.38 m (at the base) and 1.04 m at the end. In the USA, in the state of New Mexico, a trunk was discovered, 8.84 meters long with a diameter of 35 cm at the base and 21 cm at the other end. The discoverer, Dawson, who described a specimen of Prototaxites from Canada, recorded a length of 2.15 meters and a maximum diameter of almost a meter (91 cm).
It should be noted very important point internal structure of Prototaxites – this creature does not have plant-like cells, but it has a network of very thin capillaries (tubes) with extremely small diameter– from 2 to 50 micrometers.
Modern scientists, based on the conclusions of many years scientific research this amazing creation, proposed new versions. Thus, Francis Hueber from the American Museum natural history(Smithsonian Institution) states that Prototaxites is a spore-seeding body giant mushroom. Other museum employees are inclined to think that this is a huge lichen and this version is supported quite convincingly by Marc – Andre Selosse from the National University of Montpellier (Universite de Montpellierll).
The most courageous supporter of the mushroom version is Charles Kevin Boyes from the University of Chicago. In his scientific practice, he created several fundamental works devoted to a detailed study of the mysterious Prototaxites. Boyce never ceases to be amazed by this creature.“You can put forward different hypotheses and arguments, but regardless of this, the fact remains that we are faced with something completely crazy,” says the specialist, “ a mushroom 9 meters tall makes absolutely no sense. None of the existing ones, or even the ancient ones seaweed is not 20 feet tall. But she is, and it’s absolutely amazing, here it is, a fossil - in front of you.”
And just recently, Francis Huber completed his fundamental, titanic work: he found and collected, many specimens of Prototaxites from different countries, studied hundreds of microscopic sections in detail; took thousands of high-precision photographs. And here is the analysis internal structure showed this creature - It's still a mushroom. However, the scientist did not find a characteristic reproductive structure, which would clearly and without any doubt prove to everyone that this is indeed a mushroom (and this fact somewhat gives confidence to Huber’s opponents from "lichen countries").
Recently published in the journal Geology, a paper by Huber, Beuys and their colleagues analyzed the carbon isotope ratios of discovered Prototaxites fossils and paleontological finds of other plants from the same period. The discovered differences clearly indicate that the Super Mushroom is definitely not a plant. The results of the analysis indicate that Prototaxites was a heterotrophic organism that lived on an abundant substrate rich in numerous isotopes.
To put it simply, all plants get the carbon they need from the air ( carbon dioxide), A fungi obtain carbon from the soil. Therefore, all plants from the same era will show the same isotope ratio (since the atmospheric environment is the same), but mushrooms will not, since it depends on the place where they grow (that is, dependence on diet). That is why scientists can recreate different ecosystems of this mysterious creature. And a discovery awaited specialists: some representatives of Prototaxites “ate” other plants. Other representatives of Prototaxites used various microbial communities Paleozoic soil. Third - occupied nutrients huge mosses.
This is an amazing giant world.
However, the mystery of the reasons for the giant growth of the Paleozoic fungus remains. Karol Hotton of the Smithsonian Museum discusses this topic: “The enormous size of this fungus allowed it to disperse its spores over enormous distances around the numerous scattered prehistoric swamps that were very chaotically scattered across the Paleozoic landscape.”
However, a clear answer to the question about the reasons huge size– scientists are not yet able to. The main assumption is the absence of natural predators, which allowed this creature to grow extremely slowly but freely to such incredible sizes.
But interesting fact from the life of fungal organisms was noted by Japanese scientists. Professor Toshiyuki Nakagaki from Hokkaido University, took several samples of yellow moldy mushrooms and placed them at the entrance to an intricate labyrinth that will be used in science to test the intellectual abilities of small rodents. The scientist placed a small piece of sugar at the other end of the maze.
Phusarum polycephalum instantly (as if sensing the smell of sugar) began to send out its sprouts to detect edibles. Cobwebs - scouts bifurcated at each intersection of the labyrinth and when an obstacle appeared - a dead end, the webs turned around and rushed to search in other directions. And within a few hours - mushroom - scout literally filled all the passages of the complex labyrinth and by the end of the day Still, one cobweb found its way to the sugar.
But the most unexpected news awaited the scientists the next day - a group of researchers took a piece of the mushroom that participated in the first experiment and also placed it at the beginning of the same maze, and sugar at the other end. Immediately the webs forked in two; without mistakes, without a single extra turn - cobwebs - scouts identified the path to sugar. But there was another amazing fact - one of the fungus webs climbed up the wall of the labyrinth and crossed the entire labyrinth at the top, directly to the goal. That is, the mushroom web not only remembered the path to the goal, but she was also able to change the circumstances (“the rules of the game”).
Through the prism of the above, it should be noted: the kingdom of mushrooms is one of the most conservative, not subject to grandiose evolutionary leaps. That is, the basic elements (features) of the organization and internal structure of ancient fungal communities are very, very similar to modern representatives. That is, Prototaxites, the giant Paleozoic mushroom, was quite capable of showing signs of organizing the modern kingdom of fungi.
Researchers mushroom kingdom pay attention to several unique features:
Firstly, fungal organisms are much closer to the animal kingdom than it seems at first glance.
Secondly, their actions are very similar to the results of an absolutely conscious choice.
Toshiyuki's newest research has shown that mushrooms are able to freely plan transport routes much faster and more efficiently than professional engineers. A scientist took a map of Japan and placed sugar cubes on major cities. He placed the mushrooms themselves on Tokyo. And after 23 hours mushrooms built a linear structural network absolutely to all pieces of sugar. And as a result, it was practically formed exact copy rail network systems around Tokyo. It's not difficult to connect several dots, but connect them in the most optimal way and effective way - this is a very difficult matter.
The Mushroom Kingdom is a gigantic mysterious formation on the planet that has an extremely distant past and is almost unexplored in the present. Only according to the most conservative estimates, there are about 160 thousand mushrooms on our planet, most of which have very, very impressive abilities.
For example, even in Chernobyl they found a mushroom that adapted to feed on radioactive objects, and besides this, It also purifies the air around you. This mushroom was discovered on the wall of a destroyed nuclear power plant, which still emits a radioactive background that does not allow life to develop tens of kilometers around.
In wet forests In the Amazon, two students from Yale University found the fungus Pestakotiopsis microspora, which amazingly It can even decompose plastic. This mushroom literally ate the plastic cup in which it was grown. Until now, neither our science nor our technologies are capable of such things.
It should be clear that these creatures are so unusual from a biological point of view that they are considered to a completely new kingdom, separating them from both animals and plants. Majority forest mushrooms – impossible to tame and domesticate, they are extremely difficult to raise and research.
They choose their own nutritious bedding and always decide for themselves when to germinate. Methods of nutrition, growth, reproduction and reproduction, energy use- mushrooms have completely different characteristics than other animals. They have no chlorophyll and do not use the sun's energy. They digest food, but do it outside their bodies. If the soil is the stomach of the planet, then mushrooms produce digestive juices.
They are capable of decomposing and digesting absolutely everything. They contain enormous amounts of energy. They break asphalt, they glow in the dark, they are capable of processing gigantic amounts of petroleum products in just one night and turning them into a nutritious and edible delicacy.
The mysterious mushroom Coprinopsis atramentaria can grow a nutritious fruiting body in just a few hours and then, within one day, turn into a small puddle of black ink.
Hallucinogenic mushrooms change the highly developed consciousness of people. Their energy is something completely and completely different.
The mycelium, the oldest organ of the fungal kingdom, is the most complex infrastructure on which all plants on the planet are housed and live. A person's foot can contain about half a million kilometers of closely spaced fungal webs.
In the early 1990s, experts began to speculate that this network infrastructure carried not only nutrients and chemical elements, but is a very smart and self-learning communication system. This is the Internet underground.
Experts have absolutely reasoned arguments that the most ancient giant representatives Prototaxites– could also form thread infrastructures underground.
Modern research shows that modern mushrooms have a network of threads that even graphically resembles the Internet. The network is highly branched, If one of its parts suddenly fails, it very quickly replaced by additional workarounds. System nodes that are located in strategic areas are much better supplied with nutrients due to less active areas, and are constantly enlarged.
Spider webs have sensitivity, and each web is capable of transmitting information to the entire network and in all directions. The network infrastructure itself can develop and grow indefinitely.
There is no "central server". Each part is completely independent. Moreover, the underground network decides for herself when to grow mushrooms. Sometimes the reason is threat for the infrastructure itself. If forest feeding the network, destroyed (burns out or washed away by flood), i.e. Sugar stops coming from tree roots, then the network in its most remote areas– throws out (germinates) mushrooms so that they dispel spores, survived and found a new place to live. This is exactly what happens after the rain. Streams of water wash away organic rot from the ground, and the power supply to the network decreases, in this case the network sends reconnaissance teams to search for a new refuge.
Moreover, the method of distribution itself, tireless search for a new home, is another thing that distinguishes fungi from the animal and plant kingdoms. Some species of modern fungi have developed cruel methods of spreading. Thai zombie mushroom Ophiocordyceps unilateralis – absolutely suppresses the volitional efforts of the ants that feed on them. The fungus causes ants to climb onto the leaves of some plants. The distance that infected ants travel is simply gigantic. The ants get to the leaves and die from fatigue and hunger, and after a few weeks, mushrooms grow from the bodies of these ants.
Scientists are amazed, “these mushrooms produce a chemical reagent similar to LSD. But science doesn’t know of drugs that cause behavior that suits someone’s interests.” Experts have identified mushrooms that control the brains of spiders, lice and even flies. Is not natural selection and cannot be a side effect of another process. “The insect is sent against its will to where it shouldn’t be, but the mushrooms really like it.”
However, mushrooms are sources of miracle cures. Reason – they live in the dirtiest places, in dampness, in heat, that is, where microbes and viruses multiply in incredible quantities. Plants have no protection against these microbes, and mushrooms resist.
Mushrooms can turn mountains of waste into blooming gardens, full of life and sunny beauty. They clean rivers of toxic waste. Absolutely all problems with planet pollution can be solved with the help of mushroom kingdom.
Toshiyuki says: “The intelligence of a mushroom is in its network. It creates a kind of decision-making system. These creatures existed for hundreds of millions of years in the most difficult conditions. Multiply that by thousands various types and as a result you will get something that is very likely to be very, very smart.”
Giant bighead mushroom March 1st, 2017
I haven’t gone mushroom picking for a hundred years, but I remember that in many regions this is a rather dreary task. Yes, somewhere in the Vladimir region they go exclusively for porcini mushrooms or chanterelles. And in our region, they mostly go for boletus. Well, you can collect small slippery oils, but the big ones are still wormy. Then you'll have a lot of trouble cleaning up.
If only there was a mushroom like this, you could pick a couple, no worms or rot, cut it into pieces and here’s a whole frying pan for you!
Yes, this is the mushroom of your dreams!
Photo 2. 
Langermannia gigantea is difficult to confuse with other mushrooms, and more precisely, it is impossible. Its spherical fruiting body resembles a huge white ball, the diameter of which can reach 50 centimeters.
Photo 3. 
Most often, this mushroom can be found in a single specimen or in small groups. They grow in fields, meadows, edges of deciduous or mixed forests, gardens and parks. As for distribution, the mushroom grows in vast areas of Western Europe, the European part of Russia, the Far East (Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territory) and Siberia (Krasnoyarsk Territory).
Photo 4. 
The golovach has a spherical or slightly elongated fruiting body with a diameter of 10 to 50 centimeters. Average weight such a mushroom is 1-4 kilograms. But there are specimens up to 25 kilograms! The cap and leg are missing.
Photo 5. 
The outside of the mushroom is covered with a thin, sensitive skin. The color is white, but as it ripens it begins to turn yellow and green. Old mushrooms crack and expose their internal contents - gleba (spores). In a still young mushroom, it is white and in consistency resembles cottage cheese or marshmallow. As the gleba matures, it also darkens and eventually becomes olive-brown.
Photo 6. 
Fruiting bodies are formed in August-October, and in the south of Russia - until November.
This mushroom is edible, but should not be eaten at a young age until the flesh is white.
Photo 7. 
Giant bighead contains the antibiotic calvacin, from which a drug is made that suppresses the healing of malignant tumors and sarcoma. Spores of a mature fungus have hemostatic properties.
Photo 8. 
Don Smith was walking with his daughter's dog in the town of North Dorchester, near Woodstock, when he noticed something white and large in the bushes. I came closer and saw that it was a mushroom.
"I've never seen raincoats this big before in my life," Don Smith told CBC Windsor.
Don carefully cut it off and brought it home. The mushroom weighed seven kilograms. It reached half a meter in diameter.
Photo 9. 
The mushroom picker's daughter posted a photo of this find on her Facebook page. In just one evening, people shared this photo 2,600 times.
Similar giant mushrooms This is not the first time they have been found in southwestern Ontario. In 2011, the London Free Press reported on an eight-cologram raincoat with a height of one and a half meters.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, a record-breaking raincoat with a height of 1.7 meters was found in the UK in 2010.
Photo 10. 
Photo 11. 
Photo 12. 
Photo 13. 
Photo 14. 
Photo 15. 
Photo 16. 
Photo 17. 
Photo 18. 
Photo 19. 
Photo 20. 
Photo 21. 
Photo 22. 
Photo 23. 
Well, why did you eat such a mushroom? Can one mushroom really feed the whole family?
Mushrooms combine characteristics of plants and animals. Among them there are record holders for height and weight. Any mushroom can become a giant if it grows in favorable conditions. Biologists believe that giant mushrooms are not an anomaly. And oddly enough, most of the largest mushrooms are edible, which by some miracle did not end up in the mushroom picker’s basket and were not eaten by animals.
10. Calvatia gigantea from England (weight 2 kg)
Discovers ten large mushrooms Calvatia gigantea from England. The record holder was discovered by a young gardener, Terri Hodson-Walker, after the rainy season.
The width of the giant's cap was approximately 46 centimeters, and he weighed 2 kilograms.
After the discovery, the girl decided to submit an application to the Guinness Book of Records so that the macromycete would be officially recognized as the largest mushroom in the world.
Scientific name discovered mushroom – Calvatia gigantea. This is an ordinary raincoat that can be found almost all over the world.
This type can reach colossal sizes, but often becomes a victim of forest animals who are not averse to feasting on the raincoat.
9. Boletus from Russia (weight 2.4 kg)
Another contender for the title of the largest mushroom in the world is the boletus from Russia, discovered in the Tomsk region.
Local mushroom picker Alexey Korol found a giant boletus mushroom in the forest near his village. The diameter of the giant mushroom cap was 36 centimeters, and the height of the stem was 28 cm. The weight of the record holder was 2 kilograms 400 grams! As the Rossiya TV channel noted, this is not some mutant alien from outer space, but common boletus, not even wormy.
8 Lingzhi from China (weight 7.5 kg)
The found huge lacquered tinder fungus, or as it is called in China - lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) - weighs 7.5 kg and its diameter is 107 cm. The find was discovered in one of the provincial Chinese cities of Hezhou. This mushroom belongs to the genus Ganoderma, which has been used in Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. It is also called the “mushroom of immortality.” Lingzhi is believed to boost immunity through active compounds called polysaccharides, which can increase the activity of white blood cells. The impressive size and weight of the tinder fungus allow it to occupy one of the rankings of the largest mushrooms in the world.
7 Raincoat from Russia (weight 12 kg)
The largest mushroom in Russia is the raincoat, found by mushroom picker Vladislav Grabosinsky in the fall of 2011 in the Perm region. The diameter of the giant's cap was 1 meter and 72 centimeters, and the height was about half a meter. The weight of the find exceeded 12 kilograms. Biologists do not consider this find to be rare. Raincoats grew in size and reached 20 kg in weight. Puffballs are eaten when they are still young. Since it was too late to eat the giant, Vladislav took him to the Department of Botany of Perm University for study. This edible miracle was included in the Guinness Book of Records.
6 Champignon from Italy (weight 14 kg)
In Italy, a kind of record was also recorded. A huge champignon, weighing approximately 14 kilograms, was found by Francesco Quito, a resident of the province of Baria. Despite the fact that the mushroom was discovered near the village, Francesco could hardly carry it on his shoulder, so he had to use a car. The mushroom turned out to be unspoiled and edible. I had to call my neighbors to eat such a giant. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle
5 Macromycete from China (weight 15 kg)
A giant macromycete weighing 15 kilograms was discovered in the Chinese province of Yunnan. The mushroom not only turned out to be huge, but also had unusual shape. Outwardly, it resembled a hundred small mushroom caps growing on one stem! The diameter of the cap reached almost 1 meter. Scientists have not yet determined what species the eccentric fungal organism belongs to.
4 Macrocybe Titans from USA(weight 20 kg)
If we talk about traditional macromycetes in the usual sense, then the leader in size can be called Macrocybe Titans, which grows in the Caribbean countries and the USA. In one of the southern Mexican states in 2007, a specimen was found whose mass was 20 kg and height - about 70 cm. However, this find is not the only one. In 2005, in the United States, Mexican biologist and mushroom specialist Rene Andrade came across the same mushroom, which also grew on a coffee plantation, and its weight was as much as 28 kilograms. Such big sizes make this macromycete the object of close attention of the scientific community.
3 Macromycete from Canada (weight 26 kg)
Canadian macromycetes can also compete in size. Canadian resident Christian Therrien discovered a raincoat weighing 26 kilograms. A man discovered a mushroom while walking with his son in the forest. The Canadians were amazed by their discovery and admitted that they had never seen such large raincoats in their lives. They took the mushroom home and had a photo shoot with it.
2 Fomitiporia ellipsoidea from China weight 500 kg
Another mushroom, found and studied by Chinese mycologists, grew 10.85 meters in height with a cap width of 82-88 cm. Scientists believe that this outstanding representative of the mushroom kingdom has been growing for at least 20 years. The giant tinder fungus with the world's largest fruiting body was found on Hainan Island in 2010, and has now been studied and classified. The brown monster turned out to be a perennial tree fungus - a representative of the species Fomitiporia ellipsoidea. One of the authors of the discovery, Yu Cheng Dai, from the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says that he and his colleagues first found solid specimens of the same mushroom in Fujian province back in 2008. But still, those macromycetes were not as large as the giant from Hainan. Interestingly, the authors of the study did not intentionally search for a record holder, but simply studied diversity tree mushrooms in the forests of the island. “None of us ever imagined that a mushroom could grow so huge,” says Professor Dai. “We didn’t recognize him right away in the forest because he was too big.” Biologists estimated the volume of this mushroom at 409-525 thousand cm3, and its weight at approximately 500 kilograms. Discovered by scientists, F. ellipsoidea grows underground, so it for a long time remained unnoticed and was able to grow to such impressive size.
1 Armillaria ostoyae from the USA, weight more than 600 kg
The first place in the ranking is occupied by the largest mushroom in the world, which mycologists discovered in the relict forests of the USA. It is considered the largest living creature on the planet. This giant belongs to the Armillaria family, whose representatives have been known for their size for quite some time. Most of This living organism was underground; only small mushrooms could be clearly seen on the surface. The name of these macromycetes is Armillaria ostoyae or otherwise they are called honey mushrooms. One such honey fungus fits easily in the hand and is not too noticeable. But its mycelium, which is a single organism, occupied national park Oregon 880 hectares of area! Its tentacles are located underground and entangle an area equal in size to 1,665 football fields. The mycelium grew throughout the Oregon forests for about 2,500 years, destroying root systems trees on its way. That is why this macromycete is considered the largest on the planet.
Loading...
