THE BIGGEST FUNGUS IN THE WORLD
Kingdom : FUNGI
Division : BASIDIOMYCOTA
Class : AGARICOMYCETES
Order : HYMENOCHAETALES
Family : HYMENOCHAETACEAE
Genus : FORMITIPORIA
Species : Fomitiporia ellipsoidea
The fungus, F. ellipsoidea, is what mycologists call a perennial Polypore, otherise known as a Bracket Fungus.Being a perennial, it can live for a number of years, which may have enabled it to grow to such large size.By colonising the underside of the large fallen tree, the fungus also had a huge amount of dead and decaying wood to feed on, helping to fuel its growth.Fruiting bodies, such as mushrooms and toadstools, are the sexual stages of a many higher types of fungi, producing seeds or spores that produce further generations.
The giant fruiting body of F. ellipsoidea forms a long, brown shape up to 10.85m long, 82-88cm wide, and 4.6-5.5cm thick.Tests on the density of the fruiting body suggest the whole thing weighs 400-500kg; it is also estimated to hold some 450 million spores.After their initial encounter with the new record-breaking fungus, the scientists took samples of it back to the lab where to be analysed.These tests revealed that the fungus was the species Fomitiporia ellipsoidea, and the researchers made two subsequent trips to study the specimen further.
Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614611001139
Species : Fomitiporia ellipsoidea
The most massive fruiting body of any fungus yet documented has been discovered growing on the underside of a tree in China.The fruiting body of Fomitiporia ellipsoidea, which is equivalent to the mushrooms produced by other fungi species, is up to 10m long, 80cm wide and weighs half a tonne.It shatters the record held previously by a fungus Rigidoporus ulmarius, a polypore with a pileate fruiting body found in Kew Gardens in the UK in 2003 that measured approximately 150cm in diameter with a circumference of 425cm.
The fungus, F. ellipsoidea, is what mycologists call a perennial Polypore, otherise known as a Bracket Fungus.Being a perennial, it can live for a number of years, which may have enabled it to grow to such large size.By colonising the underside of the large fallen tree, the fungus also had a huge amount of dead and decaying wood to feed on, helping to fuel its growth.Fruiting bodies, such as mushrooms and toadstools, are the sexual stages of a many higher types of fungi, producing seeds or spores that produce further generations.
The giant fruiting body of F. ellipsoidea forms a long, brown shape up to 10.85m long, 82-88cm wide, and 4.6-5.5cm thick.Tests on the density of the fruiting body suggest the whole thing weighs 400-500kg; it is also estimated to hold some 450 million spores.After their initial encounter with the new record-breaking fungus, the scientists took samples of it back to the lab where to be analysed.These tests revealed that the fungus was the species Fomitiporia ellipsoidea, and the researchers made two subsequent trips to study the specimen further.
Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614611001139
News Courtesy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14294283
I would like to know if this Fomitiporia ellipsoidea specimen is edible and could it be farmed?
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