# Holy cow! I think I'll go and welcome our new mushroom overlords now **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503 "2010-09-03T16:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/21 "2010-09-04T07:06:45Z")
I just moved to Edmonton and I saw one of those today at the park! I thought it was a ball. I’ve never seen them before. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/22 "2010-09-04T16:11:57Z")
Heh. I went to a tomato festival in West Sussex today - we arrived a bit early and were more or less the first to be directed into the parking area, which was field/pasture - as we drove across, I yelled to the missus “Don’t drive over the mushrooms!”. when we parked, I jumped out and ran back to look. I picked about a pound of field mushrooms, a massive horse mushroom (the cap is 9 inches in diameter) and a giant puffball - not a huge specimen, as they go - this one is about the size of a baby’s head. I’ll post pics when I cook and eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/23 "2010-09-05T01:56:29Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > > [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > > > Two mushrooms the size of soccer balls turned up in the local park. > > > > No, that was no typo. The size of _soccer balls_. > > > > A run-around on Google indicates that what we have are the aptly-named [Giant Puffballs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvatia_gigantea). > > > > Just wow. > > Thats nothing. The largest organism in the world (by area) is a mushroom: > [Largest organisms - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_organisms) I know, but it’s not a) above ground and b) two blocks from my house. Therefore. I wonder what the fungi produce the world’s largest fruiting bodies, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/24 "2010-09-05T03:56:55Z")
We used to eat them occasionally when camping in a friend’s woods, because they were extremely common there. Not much to report. Not much flavor. We stuck to the scotch, stew and smores. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/25 "2010-09-05T05:44:47Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > > [@Zebra](#): > > > > Are you sure it isn’t a blancmange? > > Nah, one of those would be at Wimbledon, no fear of that. Maybe they are trying for the US Open? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/26 "2010-09-05T07:24:40Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I wonder what the fungi produce the world’s largest fruiting bodies, though. The giant puffball might be a contender, depending on how the question is formulated - certainly the fungus has to be one of the largest _non-persistent_ fruiting bodies - I’ve heard (anecdotally) of cases where an exceptionally large specimen was mistaken for a sheep. But some other fungi produce fruiting structures that go on for years and years - and because of this, they can be enormous - on my recent holiday to the Highlands of Scotland, I came across [this](http://img9.imageshack.us/i/cimg0360y.jpg/) massive shelf fungus on a huge, ancient beech tree. When we were there, it was lightly raining - the lower of the two fruiting bodies shown in this picture is large enough for two people to take shelter underneath. However, only the lower, white layer of these fruiting bodies is actually alive - the top, brown part is like cork or wood. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/27 "2010-09-05T13:29:38Z")
We ate the giant puffball for lunch today - it was quite nice. Details and photos here: [http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/giant\_puffball](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/giant_puffball) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/28 "2010-09-05T14:26:14Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > We ate the giant puffball for lunch today - it was quite nice. Details and photos here: > > [http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/giant\_puffball](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/giant_puffball) Cool, thanks for the pictures! I’m too lazy to check if you posted to [this thread about breakfasts.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=569132&highlight=breakfast) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/29 "2010-09-05T15:50:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Imagine the brown smoke coming out of THAT puppy when you step on it! :eek: [Here ya go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPO4Rry4m4U&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/30 "2010-09-05T16:06:37Z")
If we ever have fungal overlords, they won’t be puffballs, they’ll be [Cordyceps.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCOQ0VU24xw) Apparently some of those are consumed as a traditional Chinese medicine, so there are plenty of opportunities for it to mutate into a form that infects humans. (Or at least that’s how it works in my plot for a Scyfy Originial Movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503/31 "2010-09-05T19:52:01Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > Imagine the brown smoke coming out of THAT puppy when you step on it! :eek: > > [Here ya go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPO4Rry4m4U&feature=related) Oh YEAH! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-cow-i-think-ill-go-and-welcome-our-new-mushroom-overlords-now/552503.md?page=1)