Above Three Miles Long — The Largest Organism On The Planet

A call for the largest organism on the planet and the first name that could strike in mind will be a blue whale. But, across the Blue Mountains in Oregon, lies the parasitic and delicious honey fungus. It is considered to be the largest living organism on Earth.

The fungi belonging to the Armillaria genus, known as honey fungus. The fungi colonise and kill a variety of trees and woody plants. Their fruiting bodies appear above ground (clumps of yellow-brown mushrooms), and they are highly pathogenic to several commercially valuable woods, for example, Douglas-fir, pine trees, etc. Mycelia from genetically identical A. solidipes can fuse to form a single individual organism. A team of researchers estimated that the A. solidipes covered an area of approximately 3.7 sq miles (9.6 sq km), and can be as old as 8,650 years.