Posted on 03/14/2018 7:58:50 PM PDT by Fungi
I never post, but this is noteworthy. Brewer's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is responsible for five percent of our gross domestic product. From bread to beer and beyond, this fungus has an incredible impact on our lives. Fungi are important!
Something similar happened with me and milk products. Very bad abdominal pain. Stopped drinking milk. No lower GI problems. I have to take a lactaid to eat cheese.
Overdid it once on cheese and got the pain back and confirmed it was lactose intolerance.
Sad.
You don’t know the half of it.......
Humongus Fungus
Armillaria ostoyae (sometimes called Armillaria solidipes) is a species of plant pathogenic fungus in the Physalacriaceae family. It is the most common variant in the western U.S., of the group of species that all used to share the name Armillaria mellea. Armillaria ostoyae is quite common on both hardwood and conifer wood in forests west of the Cascade crest. The mycelium attacks the sapwood and is able to travel great distances under the bark or between trees in the form of black rhizomorphs (”shoestrings”).
In most areas of North America, Armillaria ostoyae can be separated from other species by its physical features. Its brown colors, fairly prominent scales featured on its cap, and the well-developed ring on its stem sets it apart from any Armillaria. (Herink, 1973)
It is known to be one of the largest living organisms, where scientists have estimated a single specimen found in Malheur National Forest in Oregon to be 2,400 years old, covering 3.4 square miles (2,200 acres; 8.8 km2) and colloquially named the “Humongous Fungus”.[1] Armillaria ostoyae grows and spreads primarily underground and the bulk of the organism lies in the ground, out of sight. Hence, the organism is invisible from the surface. In the autumn this organism blooms “honey mushrooms”, evidence of the organism beneath. Low competition for land and nutrients have allowed this organism to grow so huge; it possibly covers more geographical area than any other living organism.[2][3]
What half? And what makes you so sure I don’t?
Well, that’s cool. Learn something new every day here...
I wonder if I should cultivate reishi mushrooms and see if the bitter taste can be hidden in something like a brownie since they are all over the place here anyway... Piasa’s Brownies of Youth
I’ve got scores of mushrooms here in the early summer that appear in tightly packed clusters resembling oyster mushrooms all around a dying oak tree ... problem is there are no shroom experts nearby I can drag over to look at them and tell me what they are. They smell good but their ribs are sharp not rounded like oysters shrooms. I always wondered if they are edible but don’t trust them
There are also some very tempting meaty looking boletes that appear from time to time.
When we get lots of rain we get huge, exceedingly beautiful white ones that I think are called destroying angels.
pardon me, not oyster mushrooms, I meant they look like chanterelles
It’s a figure of speech.
BTW, I’m pretty sure the fungus is no longer the largest living organism. I think students in Colorado determined that there are large tracts of Aspen trees that have the greater biomass.
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