Invisible giants // Unsichtbare Riesen

🇨🇭Deutsch findest du weiter unten // German below

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The largest creature in the world is neither really photogenic nor really visible to the eye. It was discovered in North America and has almost unimaginable dimensions. The forest is its habitat, the roots of conifers its hunting ground, so to speak.

The largest specimen of its kind in Europe was found in the Swiss National Park.

What am I talking about? A mushroom.

To be more precise, the dark honey fungus or shoe-string fungus, Armillaria ostoyae. In a publication by the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture I found remarkable figures (see PDF here). The fungus extends underground with its thread-like network, called mycelium, over 9 square kilometers of forest floor! Its age and weight are also hard to grasp. The figures vary, but are impressive either way: it is said to be between 1900 and 8650 years old, depending on the annual growth rate. Its weight is estimated at 7500 tons, possibly even up to 35,000 tons. It is not known as the 'Humongous Fungus' for nothing.

The Swiss version, on the other hand, is still a baby. Its size is 500 meters long and 800 meters wide. That corresponds to a respectable 56 football pitches (compared to almost 1261 for the North American 🤪).

No, this is not the fruiting body of the biggest living creature, but it is also quite big. Coming in the size of a pizza (!) my photo app says this is The Prince Mushroom, Agaricus augustus. Ohlala, the internet adds that it is a highly priced edible mushroom. Well, I found it on a campground in Sweden and left it there unknowing of its stardom.

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Nein, dies ist nicht der Fruchtkörper des größten Lebewesens, aber er ist auch ziemlich groß. In der Größe einer Pizza (!) ist dies laut meiner Foto-App der Riesen-Champignon, Agaricus augustus. Ohlala, das Internet fügt hinzu, dass es sich um einen hochpreisigen Speisepilz handelt. Nun, ich habe ihn auf einem Campingplatz in Schweden gefunden und ihn dort zurückgelassen, ohne zu wissen, dass er ein Star ist.

How did I come up with all this? Well, I wanted to show you a few wonderful mushrooms that I found in Swedish forests, in keeping with the season.