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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"The largest living thing on Earth is mostly hidden from view"
Oregons Giant: The Largest Organism on EarthArmillaria ostoyae, commonly known as the honey mushroom, is
considered the largest and oldest organism on Earth.
The mushroom covers 1.4388 square miles of Malheur National Forest, Oregon, and is
estimated to be around 8,650 years old.
Mushrooms are not just the stem-and-cap that we see on the surface;
this is only a small part of an underground network of tendrils called mycelium. These tendrils can feed on soil, decaying plant matter, or wood, depending on the mushroom species. The massive Honey mushrooms have thick black tendrils called rhizomorphs, the networks of which can extend miles through the soil seeking wood to eat. Scientists think that the rhizomorphs are what enable a single Armillaria organism to grow so big. On the surface, you can see two complete different mushrooms several yards from each other; however, they are really the same entity underground.
Researchers examined Armillaria rhizomorphs and noticed that the same networks of genes are active in both the fungus rhizomorphs and its mushrooms. They suggested that Armillaria could have gained its rhizomorphsand accordingly its ability to spread so wideby co-opting genes originally used to grow mushrooms. The rhizomorphs may be akin to mushroom stems that failed to sprout and grow a cap; instead it grew long and thin underground.
The fungus was examined more closely by researchers when Catherine Parks, Scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station in La Grande, Oregon, heard about a big tree die-off from root rot in the forest east of Prairie City. Parks collected root samples from 112 trees and recognized the fungus through DNA testing. By comparing the 112 samples, she determined that 61 were from the same organism, meaning a single fungus had grown bigger than anything anyone had ever described before.
The honey mushroom exists in other places, such as Michigan and Germany; however, Oregons mushroom is the largest ever measured. Scientists who study this species of fungus assume that the huge size may be a function of the dry climate in eastern Oregon. Spores have a hard time establishing new organisms, making room for the old-timers to spread; without competition from other specimens this enormous Armillaria has been able to grow and spread unchecked.
https://www.bibalex.org/SCIplanet/en/article/details.aspx?id=13515
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"The largest living thing on Earth is mostly hidden from view" (Original Post)
left-of-center2012
Sep 2021
OP
ShepKat
(375 posts)1. fact check
sources say this photo is altered ?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)2. Hee! Yes - unfortunate joke inserted at the top of the article.
Kind of taints the actual story below, doesn't it?
I have heard of this before though; I think the basic story is valid.
Wounded Bear
(58,436 posts)6. "Images of a humongous fungus actually show a Boletus photoshopus."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/worlds-largest-mushroom/
Yeah, it's unfortunate that this phot appears in the article, which appears genuine for the most part.
Yeah, it's unfortunate that this phot appears in the article, which appears genuine for the most part.
Response to ShepKat (Reply #1)
sl8 This message was self-deleted by its author.
2naSalit
(86,037 posts)3. Hey that's just a King Boletus!
Kind of a big one, though.
Fascinating that the largest living thing is a mushroom but being underground is probably why we haven't killed it yet.
Hekate
(90,189 posts)4. KnR Wow!