16 Most Bizarre Mushroom And Fungi Species In The World

With about 14,000 described mushrooms currently inhabiting dank forest floors, decaying tree trunks, and dung piles, there are bound to be some strange-looking varieties. Some depart entirely from the toadstool silhouette—the stereotypical rounded-cap-atop-a-stem set—with lengthy hairlike spines, fanning shell shapes, flower-esque pedals, and lattice designs. Others that lack uniqueness in shape are fantastic in their royal blue, indigo, and even bioluminescent colors.

Dung Cannon (Pilobus crystallinus): The name of the Dung Cannon mushroom is a fairly straightforward, albeit weird, one. First, these strange mushrooms mainly originate in — and love to grow on — animal feces. Straightforward enough, sure. But here's where it gets interesting: this fungus is actually the fastest living thing on the planet. Just like a true cannon, this fungus launches spores faster than a bullet from a gun. The action is invisible to the naked eye, but the travel rate for a Dung Cannon spore is about 82 feet per second, though each ejaculation usually only travels about six feet. In terms of g-force, that's over 180,000 g's. For reference, normal humans can withstand no more than 9 g's at a time — and only for a few seconds. As a result, they are often eaten by grazing animals and pass through their digestive tracts, starting their growth cycle over again but inside the animal feces this time.