MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato (MindaNews/10 August) — A colony of “giant mushrooms” has become a sensation in the small, sleepy village of Santo Nino in this town, drawing people from as far away as Kidapawan City.
Ricky Tampir, 22, caretaker of the farm where the mushrooms grew, said he discovered the flush (colony) of an unknown mushroom species in the morning of August 4 as he was going to take a bath in the community well.
He said he was surprised when he saw the mushroom colony beside a narra tree.
“This is the first giant mushroom that I have seen in my life,” he told MindaNews, adding it was the first time that a mushroom that big grew in Sitio Santo Nino.
The land in the small village of Barangay Sta. Cruz, Midsayap is known to grow wild mushrooms especially during the rainy season.
This mushroom is about two to three feet long and has 14 branches. This is 25 times bigger than an ordinary mushroom,” Tampir said.
Agriculturists from the Midsayap Agriculture Office have already inspected the mushrooms but efforts by MindaNews to interview them yesterday failed. The technicians were already out of their office.
News of the “giant mushrooms” spread quickly and drew crowds from as far away as neighboring Kidapawan City.
A group of high school students was seen alighting from motorcycles eager to see the spectacle that they could probably see in books and in the internet.
