BEST NOT TO EAT: The giant puffball mushroom is a common sight after it rains but it is unclear if they are toxic to humans. The smallest ones are about the size of a 5-cent coin, but they can grow as large as a football, says Prof Tan.
The recent heavy rain has brought an unusual sight to Hougang - a giant brain-like mushroom as wide as a person's face.
Nurse Lau Wing Lup, 30, found the mushroom while walking past a grass patch in a Buangkok View housing estate on Thursday afternoon.
He initially thought the beige-coloured mushroom was a loaf of bread, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.
But as he got closer, he realised it was a mushroom that was larger than his palm and about as wide as his face.
"It had grooves and ridges so it also looked like a human brain," Mr Lau told My Paper. He saw a similar mushroom two years ago at a similar spot but the one had not been as large.
Mycology expert Tan Teck Koon said in a report two years ago that the mushroom Mr Lau found was a giant puffball.
While a common sight after it rains, the size of giant puffballs can vary greatly. The smallest are about the size of a 5-cent coin but they can grow as large as a football, said Associate Professor Tan, a mycologist at the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences.
He said the mushrooms can grow very quickly, a day after it rains. But "unlike other mushrooms, giant puffballs are quite 'tough' and may be around for a few days", he told My Paper yesterday.
"They usually grow in grassy areas and are likely to appear where they have appeared before, if the environmental conditions are suitable for them to form these large and visible fruiting bodies," he added.
But since there is insufficient research on the mushrooms here, it is unclear if they are poisonous, he said. So it is best not to eat them.
It's raining mushrooms
Linette Lai The Straits Times AsiaOne 22 Nov 14;
In recent weeks, mushrooms have sprouted up overnight all over Singapore in the wake of the wet weather.
This is because mushrooms thrive on moisture and have a very fast growth rate, said mycologist Tan Teck Koon of the National University of Singapore.
But if their rise is fast, their demise comes quickly too. They tend to be short-lived, and start to rot after two or three days.
"They can be found where there is decaying soil and plant material, which serves as a source of food for these fungi," said Associate Professor Tan, of the NUS department of biological sciences.
He estimates that there are between 100 and 200 different species in Singapore.
Last week, a large beige mushroom - known as a giant puffball - was seen on a grass patch in Buangkok View. This species can be as small as a five-cent coin or as big as a football.
Mushrooms are the reproductive structures of fungi, said Prof Tan, and they grow out of the ground to disperse their spores when conditions are right. However, not all species are edible and some may even be deadly.
He said it is a misconception that all poisonous mushrooms are brightly coloured, and warned against collecting mushrooms that look similar to edible ones sold in markets overseas.
"My advice is - don't. Many poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms appear very similar to the layman," he said.
He said the best thing to do is to just leave the mushrooms alone.
"They don't keep well, so there is no point in collecting them," he said. "Just admire them in their natural habitat and give them a chance to sprout, expand and disperse their spores for survival."