Trifter

Not long ago I discovered that remarkable colonies of Honey fungus live in the forests of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.  These colonies cover very large surface areas.  A specimen found in Oregon has a radius of 5.6 kilometres (3.5 miles) and extends over 2,200 acres.  Although the honey fungus has the greatest areal extent of any known living organism, it does not hold the record for the largest living thing. The case is not proven there are other contenders. 

The largest living think might be a colony of Quaking Aspens (Populus tremuloides).  The leaves rattle in the wind hence the name. The Quaking Aspen forms very large stands of genetically identical trees. The trees develop from suckers growing from a common root stock.

The largest known fully connected Aspen (illustrated below) can be found in the Fishlake National Forest, Utah.  Scientists call the stand Pando from the Latin meaning I spread. Pando covers 0.43 square kilometres and is estimated to weight 6,600 tons. It is believed to be the largest living thing when expressed in both mass and volume. 

Some scientists also believe that Pando might be the oldest living thing.  The colony is male. The last opportunity for germination might have been 10,000 years ago at the time of the last ice ago.  However, this view is controversial.

This record has some qualifications.

Some scientists think that part of the root system may be dead and not fully interconnected.  Their view is that the colony contains multiple but genetically identical plants so does not qualify for the record.  

Pando was discovered in 1992.  It is unlikely to hold the record of largest living thing indefinitely.  Large Aspen stands extending to 80 hectares have been identified in Utah and in Canada.  More research is required to establish whether they are single organisms.  Furthermore, as I mentioned in a separate article, very large Honey fungus colonies that could carry the superlative might be found in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. And there are other contenders ….  

If you have enjoyed this article you might my article Fungus Humungus which takes a look at the Honey Fungus in Oregon.