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Armillaria mellea Armillaria hinnulea. The basidiocarp (reproductive structure) of the fungus is a mushroom that grows on wood, typically in small dense clumps or tufts. Their caps (mushroom tops) are typically yellow-brown, somewhat sticky to touch when moist, and, depending on age, may range in shape from conical to convex to depressed in the center.
Another specimen in northeastern Oregon's Malheur National Forest is possibly the largest living organism on Earth by mass, area, and volume – this contiguous specimen covers 3.7 square miles (2,400 acres; 9.6 km 2) and is colloquially called the "Humongous fungus". [2]
The largest living fungus may be a honey fungus [25] of the species Armillaria ostoyae. [26] A mushroom of this type in the Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, U.S. was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world, spanning 8.9 km 2 (2,200 acres) of area. [25] [27] This organism is estimated to be 2,400 years old.
Armillaria mellea, commonly known as honey fungus, is an edible basidiomycete fungus in the genus Armillaria. It is a plant pathogen and part of a cryptic species complex of closely related and morphologically similar species. It causes Armillaria root rot in many plant species and produces mushrooms around the base of trees it has infected.
A. mellea is the type species of the genus Armillaria.. Armillaria is a genus of fungi commonly known as honey mushrooms. First treated by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, and later assigned generic rank by Friedrich Staude in 1857, [1] Armillaria is classified in the family Physalacriaceae of the Agaricales, the gilled mushrooms. [2]
The ability to spread using rhizomorphs as well as through mycelial contact allow the fungus to spread over very large areas and between many individuals. In fact, Armillaria is recognized as the largest living organism due to its clonal method of spreading. Infection is especially strong where environmental conditions are optimal and a large ...
Armillaria gallica (synonymous with A. bulbosa and A. lutea) is a species of honey mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae of the order Agaricales.The species is a common and ecologically important wood-decay fungus that can live as a saprobe, or as an opportunistic parasite in weakened tree hosts to cause root or butt rot.
The group also includes what are arguably the largest and oldest individual organisms on earth: the mycelium of one individual Armillaria gallica has been estimated to extend over 15 hectares (37 acres) with a mass of 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) and an age of 1,500 years. [10] Agaricomycetes also have antibacterial properties.