Giant Termite Mushroom

Giant Termite Mushroom, scientifically Termitomyces titanicus, is a species of edible fungus in the family Lyophyllaceae found in West Africa, with a cap that may reach 1 meter in diameter on a stipe up to 57 centimeters long. Like other members of its genus it is symbiotic with termites of the genus Macrotermes, which raise its hyphae on partially digested leaves as their primary food; it was first described by David Pegler and G. D. Piearce in the Kew Bulletin in 1980, who called it incredible that so large and popularly known a fungus in Zambia had remained undescribed until then.