Giant Mushroom in The Congo Baffles Experts

www.reuters.co.uk...

Interesting! I wasnt sure what section to put this in, but this seemed as good a place as any since who knows where it came from!

"Giant mushroom baffles experts
Thu 27 May, 2004 22:04

BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - A giant three-tiered mushroom which measures a metre across and was found in the tropical forests of the Republic of Congo has left experts in the capital Brazzaville scratching their heads.

"It's the first time we've ever seen a mushroom like this so it's difficult for us to classify. But we are going to determine what it is scientifically," Pierre Botaba, head of Congo's veterinary and zoology centre, told reporters on Thursday.

The giant fungi stands 45 centimetres (18 inches) high and has three tiered caps on top of a broad stem. The bottom cap measures one metre across, the second one 60 cm and the top one is 24 cm wide, Botaba said.

The bizarre-looking mushroom was found in the village of Mvoula about 38 miles from Brazzaville and transported carefully to the capital by the local chief."

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I wish they'd post some pics

THE FUNGUS IS AMONG US!

Couldn't resist... I really wanna see some pics of this one, too! I've gone mushroom collecting a couple times with friends (kinda like bird watching, but we were even looking for particular mycelia, too.) I have never seen a multi-tiered mushroom before. We have 'shrooms in the mountains here that get easily a foot across the cap, and about 3 inches tall (basically the cap os sitting almost on the ground).

1 meter... that's huge! Hopefully it isn't poisonous... be really neat if they found that it could be used as a foodstuff. Mushrooms are really quite easy to grow, and you can grow about a football field worth of mushrooms just from the spores of about (5) 3inch caps. Biologically, mushrooms are really quite interesting... to me anyways, lol.

The locals must have some GREAT partys

Now all they need do is watch for the pixies
Its amazing how new species are still being discovered. So much for humanity knowing everything about the world.

just goes to show how little we actually know about this planet! awesome find, hoping to see some pictures of this.

I doub't the mushroom could be used as a food stuff. In my survival guide book I have they said that since mushrooms grow off of dead plant material and the like that they provide little to no nutritional value, and generally are a waste to eat in situations where you need sustinance. Basically they only touched on the ones you coulnt eat due to either beiong posionous and/or psychoative, both of which are relatively useless properties in a survival situation.

sure would be quite a party if it was a tripping mushroom!