The largest mushrooms and conks are the largest known individual

fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

. These are known as ''sporocarps'', or, more specifically, ''

basidiocarps In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not ...

'' and '' ascocarps'' for the Basidiomycota and Ascomycota respectively. These fruit bodies have a wide variety of morphologies, ranging from the typical

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

shape, to

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or ' ...

(conks),

puffballs Puffballs are a type of fungus featuring a ball-shaped fruit body that bursts on impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores when mature. Puffballs belong to the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including ''Calvatia'', '' ...

cup fungi The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as cup fungi) are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tend to grow in the shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surface of the fruit body (mushroom). The cup shape ty ...

stinkhorns Phallaceae is a family of fungi, commonly known as stinkhorns, within the order Phallales. Stinkhorns have a worldwide distribution, but are especially prevalent in tropical regions. They are known for their foul-smelling, sticky spore masses, ...

, crusts and

corals Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secr ...

. Many species of fungi, including

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

s, moulds and the fungal component of lichens, do not form fruit bodies in this sense, but can form visible presences such as cankers. Individual fruit bodies need not be individual biological organisms, and extremely large single organisms can be made up of a great many fruit bodies connected by networks of

mycelia Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates ...

(including the "humongous fungus", a single specimen of ''

Armillaria solidipes ''Armillaria ostoyae'' (synonym ''Armillaria solidipes'') is a species of fungus (mushroom), pathogenic to trees, in the family Physalacriaceae. In the western United States, it is the most common variant of the group of species under the na ...

'') can cover a very large area. The largest identified fungal fruit body in the world is a specimen of ''

Phellinus ellipsoideus ''Phellinus ellipsoideus'' (formerly ''Fomitiporia ellipsoidea'') is a species of polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae, a specimen of which produced the largest fungal fruit body ever recorded. Found in China, the fruit bodies produc ...

'' (formerly ''Fomitiporia ellipsoidea''). The species was discovered in 2008 by Bao-Kai Cui and Yu-Cheng Dai in

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, China. In 2011, the two of them published details of extremely large fruit body of the species that they had found on

Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly ...

. The specimen, which was 20 years old, was estimated to weigh between . This was markedly larger than the previously largest recorded fungal fruit body, a specimen of ''

Rigidoporus ulmarius ''Rigidoporus ulmarius'' is a fungal plant pathogen found mainly on broad-leaved trees. Elm is considered particularly susceptible. The fruiting bodies are white, knobbly and relatively hard, requiring a fair amount of force to break. Older bod ...

'' found in the United Kingdom that had a circumference of .

List

Unidentified specimens

Two large specimens are excluded from the list above. The first, a polypore photographed in 1903 at

Yeerongpilly Yeerongpilly is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Yeerongpilly had a population of 1,934 people. Geography Yeerongpilly is south-west of the Brisbane GPO. A small section of the north eastern bound ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, measured about in width by top to bottom, emerging from a tree about two thick. It was sturdy enough to support the weight of two average women. The second is more speculative. Somewhere in his world travels, writer/naturalist/explorer

Ivan T. Sanderson Ivan Terence Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Along with Belgian-French biologist Bernard Heuvelmans, San ...

encountered reports of a species of fungi which "weigh a ton, and upheave large trees". The earliest report appears to have been in the writings of

James Brooke Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was b ...

.Gardener's Chronicle Vol. 18 (second series)(1858) p. 400

References

{{Reflist

Fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

Lists of fungi

List

Unidentified specimens

See also

References