Mycelial Mat Honey Mushroom

The blue whale is big but nowhere near as huge as a sprawling fungus in eastern oregon.

Mycelial mat honey mushroom.

Mellea species known as honey fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. Armillaria is a genus of parasitic fungi that includes the a. More precisely a specific honey fungus measuring 2 4 miles 3 8 km across in the blue mountains in oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on earth. The largest known organism of the species armillaria ostoyae covers more than 3 4 square miles 8.

In fact the largest organism on earth is a mycelial mat of a honey mushroom in eastern oregon that is 890 hectares in size and over 2 000 years old. Armillaria ostoyae is common on both hardwood and conifer wood in forests west of the cascade range in oregon united states. The honey mushroom exists in other places like michigan and germany. Near glenwood washington the fungus has plagued private timber harvesters for.

It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as a. But oregon s is the largest ever measured. The cells will eventually branch and continue to branch as it grows to build a vast filamentous mycelial network. In field trials colonies fed mycelium extract showed a 79 fold reduction in deformed wing virus and a.

Armillaria ostoyae synonym armillaria solidipes is a species of plant pathogenic fungus in the family physalacriaceae it is the most common variant in the western united states of the group of species under the name armillaria mellea. A mushroom extract fed to honey bees greatly reduces virus levels according to a new paper. Mycelial networks can live for hundreds if not thousands of years and spread across vast distances. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus or fungus like bacterial colony consisting of a mass of branching thread like hyphae the mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro especially within the fairy ring fungi.

These mycelial mats grow easily on just about any organic material. It is important to reiterate that just as a mushroom is not mycelium mycelium is also not a. Instead it s made from a mat of mycelium the underlying threadlike root networks from which fruiting bodies pop up after a rain. The largest organism on earth is a fungus.