The giant honey fungus

The giant honey fungus

Armillaria is a vast subterranean fungal colony found in North America and is often (17) ________ to an underground forest because a single genetically connected colony can cover many hectares beneath ancient woodland. Its most visible structures above ground are mushrooms, which may appear in clusters after prolonged periods of heavy rain. Several (18) ________ working closely alongside fungal ecologists have carefully investigated its remarkable scale, recently commissioning detailed independent (19) ________ analysis. This eventually led researchers to the important (20) ________ that several apparently separate patches can form one genetically connected colony extending through the soil beneath an exceptionally vast forest. Its (21) ________ scale reflects many centuries of slow growth through extensive branching underground filaments rather than exceptionally rapid evolution. Relative to a familiar small garden mushroom, the colony’s overall extent is (22) ________ to a town spreading across many square kilometres. The fungus is also distinctive because its smell can be (23) ________, although that distinctive odour attracts numerous insects which help widely disperse spores. Armillaria’s fruiting bodies can release aromatic compounds detectable over considerable (24) ________.