Fomitiporia ellipsoidea is a species of polypore fungus in the family 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