archiemcphee:Do you know what the world’s biggest living organism is? Nope, it’s not a whale. It’s n
archiemcphee:Do you know what the world’s biggest living organism is? Nope, it’s not a whale. It’s not a tree either. The Department of Awesome Natural Wonders is here to inform you that the largest living organism on Earth is a fungus, a honey fungus from the genus Armillaria that covers an area of 2.4 miles in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Biologists estimate that it’s somewhere between 1,900 and 8,650 years old. Yep, that’s pretty awesome.“Biologists have long debated what constitutes an individual organism. The record-breaking A. solidipes clonal colony passes the test based on a definition of being made up of genetically identical cells that can communicate, and that have a common purpose or can at least coordinate themselves.”However this colossal fungus lives mostly underground so you’ll almost never see it yourself. The black and white illustration above shows how rhizome plants like the honey fungus grow. Its fruiting bodies are creamy yellow mushrooms and, to look at them, you’d never guess that they were part of an awesomely huge organism that mainly consists of a network of “black bootlace-like rhizomorphs that spread out below surface in search of new hosts, and underground networks of tubular filaments called mycelia.”Even more amazing still, when two identical fungi, such as the honey fungus, meet, they can merge to become an even larger organism.Head over to the BBC to learn more about this awesome fungus, including how it was first discovered and how it sometimes preys on the forest in the Blue Mountains.[via io9 and the BBC] -- source link