giant mushroom
The record for the largest among mushrooms is occupied by Langermannia gigantea, which belongs to the puffball family. In common parlance it is called giant raincoat.
Scientists have discovered specimens of such mushrooms, reaching a diameter of 80 cm, with a weight of 20 kg. Such parameters prompted scientists to come up with different names for this fungus.
At a young age, this mushroom is used in the preparation of various dishes. However, it was previously used in a different way. In the last century, villagers used it as a hemostatic agent. To do this, young mushrooms were cut into pieces and dried.
Also, this mushroom benefited beekeepers. They found that if you set fire to a piece of such a mushroom, it will burn very slowly, emitting a lot of smoke. Therefore, such a remedy was used by beekeepers to calm the bees. In addition, the raincoat has another record among its brethren – the number of spores in its fruiting body can reach 7 billion pieces.