How happy is this particular German tourist who filmed this giant Sequoia toppling but wasn't standing underneath the thing when it decided to fall! I was just here myself and can't imagine one of them falling in front of my face!

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That tree was just a baby.

The Otway mountain ash: (Those treeferns at their feet are as big as houses.)
mountain ash.jpg

actually, the sequoias are the biggest trees in the world. largest living organism and all that.

before silas corrects me, i forgot about that mushroom in oregon that's bigger.

Originally Posted by MoxieBravo

actually, the sequoias are the biggest trees in the world. largest living organism and all that.

Actually, the jury is still out. It's a toss up between the sequoias, the douglas firs, and the mountain ashes. As you can see from that fallen sequoia, they don't have much of a root system, so in volume of living organic matter the ashes (which have very deep roots) win. And as for age, the ashes (being a hardwood, therefore slow-growing) win hands down. We'd have to bring one down to confirm the age (none of the giants have fallen or been felled within recorded history), but the consernative guesstimate is 8000 years.

The world's largest living organism may well be kelp plants rooted in antarctica, that have fronds extending 100s of miles.

Originally Posted by MoxieBravo

before silas corrects me, i forgot about that mushroom in oregon that's bigger.

I'd love to see that mushroom! is it a magic one?

Originally Posted by Silas Sydenham

I'd love to see that mushroom! is it a magic one?

i know it takes up something like 2200 acres.

Giant Mushroom Largest Living Organism - ABC News

Originally Posted by MoxieBravo

i know it takes up something like 2200 acres.

Giant Mushroom Largest Living Organism - ABC News

Oh I get get now. This is based on theory that mushrooms are not individual fungi, but merely the flowers of some giant subterranean organism. If that were the case, how could it be that I used to grow mushrooms in 2 inches of compost on my concrete balcony of a 36-storey tower block in South Melbourne?

The theory makes as much sense to me as the theory that the Earth is actually a ball, forgotten in the pocket of a giant, and the seasons, night and day, etc., are caused by giant opening his flies to take a pee.

(Captain Mainwaring) "I think we might be getting into the realms of fantasy here, Jones"

Originally Posted by Silas Sydenham

Oh I get get now. This is based on theory that mushrooms are not individual fungi, but merely the flowers of some giant subterranean organism. If that were the case, how could it be that I used to grow mushrooms in 2 inches of compost on my concrete balcony of a 36-storey tower block in South Melbourne?

The theory makes as much sense to me as the theory that the Earth is actually a ball, forgotten in the pocket of a giant, and the seasons, night and day, etc., are caused by giant opening his flies to take a pee.

(Captain Mainwaring) "I think we might be getting into the realms of fantasy here, Jones"

Man... As a longish-time lurker of this forum, I hate that my first post is going to be the one that follows:

Did you know that "theories" are actually, really strongly proven facts with lots of scientific findings supporting them? You should totally use this newly learned trivia fact to wow your friends and family.

I believe the right word you are looking for is "idea". So you believe the idea that fungi are flowers connected by one large organism underground is about as believe-able as the idea the Earth is a ball in a giant's pocket (love the imagery of this idea by the way hehe). Well, actually the mushrooms of fungi are basically just used for reproduction and their main purpose is to send out spores, or "seeds" to be spread all over. The actual "organism" of a fungus is in fact those underground "root" systems, the specific scientific term being hyphae (not to be confused with the Northern California brand of hip-hop/rap known as hyphe). The hyphae grow within the soil or in the case of this article, a tree and secrete stuff to break down and decompose whatever it is growing on as well as soak up all the nutrients for growth. This is why whenever you pull up mushrooms, they'll quite easily grow back in the same place- you didn't pull up all of the hyphae. Now, I'm no mycologist so I can't exactly tell you how big the hyphae are but I'm sure they're relatively microscopic just because that would seem most efficient. Since you were wondering how you could grow mushrooms in 2 inches of soil, I hope the presence of microscopic or smallish-sized hyphae answers your question.

I don't mean for this to come off as any kind of attack, I hope it doesn't! I just love science like my own little baby :3

Like the old joke: if a tree falls in the Forest
does it make a sound?