<ahref="http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13006116.htm">56 pounds of edible fungus...

“The biggest half fell in the water,” said Whitmore, 19, of Kansas City, North.

But the smaller piece was so heavy he could barely carry it to his pickup a mile away. It weighed 56 pounds on a scale at a grocery in Maysville.

After checking the Internet, he knew this humongous fungus was a sulfur shelf mushroom, the “chicken of the woods,” named for its good eating qualities.

Guinness World Records on the Internet lists the largest edible fungi as a giant puffball weighing 48 pounds, 8 ounces.

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Whitmore said the part of mushroom that fell into the creek was a larger clump growing on top of the one he saved. He said the water was too cold and deep to retrieve it. But on Tuesday, he pondered the record possibilities lost.

“It might have weighed 120 pounds altogether,” he said.