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Giant honey mushroom weighs 33 pounds

By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com

China's "Kingdom of Mushrooms" has a new king.

An as-yet unidentified species of mushroom that bears some resemblance to the giant honey mushroom weighs in at a whopping 33 pounds, measuring 37 inches across.

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The massive fungus was discovered in China's Yunnan province, home to more than 600 known species of mushroom. The country's fungus business mushroomed to a hefty $44 million in 2005 and is the source of some of the costliest specimens in the world.

As for world records, the new fungus will have to wait until its species is identified. The current record-holder for largest was a 2,400-year-old giant honey mushroom discovered growing underground in Oregon, measuring a whopping 2,384 acres in size.

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