4 Fungi Facts That Might Surprise You

1. A “humongous fungus” is the largest known living organism on earth.

A Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) mycelium growing in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon was found to cover an area of 3.5 square miles! It is estimated to weigh 7 to 35 tons and to be 2,000 to 8,000 years old.

2. Mushrooms and other fungi are more closely related to us than to green plants.

The main evolutionary difference between the fungi and animal kingdoms is that animals have internal digestive tracts, while fungi still absorb their food and nutrition through their entire outside surface.

3. Because we are so closely related, fungi catch many of the same infectious diseases as humans.

Interestingly, the substances that fungi make to protect themselves can protect us as well.

4. Some fungi are bioluminescent and glow in the dark with a green light (see photo below).

Scientists suspect that they developed this biolumunescence to attract insects which help spread the mushroom’s spores. The bioluminescence is strongest at night, when conditions are best for spore germination. Of around 100,000 fungal species, only about 80 are known to be bioluminescent.