Hymenochaetaceae, a specimen of which produced the largest fungal fruit
body ever recorded. Found in China, the fruit bodies produced by the
species are brown, woody basidiocarps that feed on dead wood and can
grow very large under favourable circumstances. They measure 30
centimetres (12 in) or more in length, though typically extending less
than a centimetre from the surface of the wood. A number of chemical
compounds have been isolated from the species, including several
steroidal compounds. These may have pharmacological applications, but
further research is needed. The species was first recorded in 2008 by
Bao-Kai Cui and Yu-Cheng Dai in Fujian Province; it was revealed in 2011
that they had found a very large fruit body, measuring up to 1,085 cm
(427 in) in length, on Hainan Island. The specimen (pictured), which
was 20 years old, was estimated to weigh between 400 and 500 kilograms
(880 and 1,100 lb). This was markedly larger than the previous record
holder, a specimen of Rigidoporus ulmarius found in the United Kingdom,
which had a circumference of 425 cm (167 in).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomitiporia_ellipsoidea>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
The Fifth Virginia Convention adopted a declaration of rights,
a hugely influential document that proclaimed the inherent rights of
men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Declaration_of_Rights>
1889:
Runaway passenger carriages collided with a following train
near Armagh, present-day Northern Ireland, killing 80 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagh_rail_disaster>
1954:
Pope Pius XII canonised Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old
when he died, to make him the youngest non-martyr saint in the Roman
Catholic Church.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Savio>
1963:
African American civil rights activist Medgar Evers was
murdered by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers>
1999:
In the aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo
War, the NATO-led Kosovo Force (German Army armoured vehicle pictured)
entered Kosovo with a mandate of establishing a secure environment in
the territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Force>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
make shift:
(dated) To contrive; to invent a way of surmounting a difficulty.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_shift>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life is not to be told, call it as loud as you like, it will not
tell itself.
--Djuna Barnes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Djuna_Barnes>
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