This 2,400 Year Old Mushroom Is The Largest Living Organism On The Planet

Nature's surprises for us are countless. The largest living thing on Earth is a mushroom: Armillaria Ostoyae. It covers an area of ​​890 hectares, most of its mass is underground and is therefore unknown. Its age is estimated between 2400 years and 8000 years.That’s one giant mushroom, folks! It’s not the Blue Whale. In fact, it has a total weight of more than 20 Blue Whales, and here’s a hint: Alice would be proud.

Okay, so the above image is total bunk. The fungus actually looks like a white slime on and within the bark of (mainly) Ponderosa Pine trees and sends out black tendrils underground, only taking on the more familiar mushroom cap shape in the fall months. The largest concentration of Armillaria encompassed 3.5 square miles of forest as of 2015, so one can only speculate what four additional years of growth have done. (That's one giant mushroom, folks! / D. Redecker, 2000)