Ethnomycological study on wild mushrooms in Pu'er Prefecture, Southwest Yunnan, China.

BACKGROUND: Yunnan is rich in fungal diversity and cultural diversity, but there are few researches on ethnomycology. In addition, extensive utilization of wild edible fungi (WEF), especially the ectomycorrhizal fungi, threatens the fungal diversity. Hence, this study aims to contribute to the ethnomycological knowledge in Pu'er Prefecture, Yunnan, China, including information on the fungal taxa presented in markets and natural habitats, with emphasis in ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with mushroom vendors in markets and with mushroom collectors in natural habitats were conducted. Information related to local names, habitat, fruiting time, species identification, price, cooking methods and preservation methods of wild edible mushrooms were recorded. Wild edible fungi were collected from forests, and morphological and molecular techniques were used to identify fungal species. RESULTS: A total of 11 markets were visited during this study. The 101 species collected in the markets belonged to 22 families and 39 genera, and about 76% of them were EMF. A wealth of ethnomycological knowledge was recorded, and we found that participants in the 45-65 age group were able to judge mushroom species more accurately. Additionally, men usually had a deepest mushroom knowledge than women. A total of 283 species, varieties and undescribed species were collected from natural habitats, and about 70% of them were EMF. Mushroom species and recorded amounts showed correspondence between markets and the natural habitats on different months. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that Pu'er Prefecture is rich in local mycological knowledge and fungal diversity. However, it is necessary to continue the research of ethnomycological studies and to design and conduct dissemination of local knowledge in order to preserve it, since it currently remains mainly among the elderly population.

A new edible Rhizopogon species from Southwest China, and its mycorrhizal synthesis with two native pines.

A new Rhizopogon species associated with Pinus was discovered at local wild mushroom markets and Pinus armandii forests from March to July in Southwest China where it is considered a delicacy. Based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, the collections were described as Rhizopogon songmaodan sp. nov. belonging to the subgenus Versicolores. The new species described here increases the current number of Rhizopogon species known in China to ten. R. songmaodan establishes ectomycorrhizal associations with P. armandii which was confirmed by comparing rDNA ITS sequences from basidiomata and ectomycorrhizal root tips. Mycorrhizal synthesis via spore inoculation between R. songmaodan and two native pine species, Pinus armandii and P. yunnanensis was successfully carried out in a greenhouse study. The ease of R. songmaodan inoculation onto pine species, and the high market demand of its sporocarps, could make R. songmaodan a good candidate for cultivation in Southwest China.

Traditional knowledge and use of wild mushrooms by Mixtecs or Ñuu savi, the people of the rain, from Southeastern Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Mexico is an important global reservoir of biological and cultural richness and traditional knowledge of wild mushrooms. However, there is a high risk of loss of this knowledge due to the erosion of traditional human cultures which is related with the rapid acculturation linked to high migration of rural populations to cities and the U.S.A., and the loss of natural ecosystems. The Mixtec people, the third largest native group in Mexico only after the Nahua and the Maya, maintain ancient traditions in the use and knowledge of wild mushrooms. Paradoxically, there are few studies of the Mixtec ethnomycology. This study shows our ethnomycological research, mainly focused on knowledge and use of wild mushrooms in communities of the Mixteca Alta, in southeastern Mexico. We hypothesized that among the studied communities those with a combination of higher vegetation cover of natural pine and oak forests, lower soil erosion and higher economic margination had a greater richness and knowledge of wild mushrooms. Our study therefore aimed to record traditional knowledge, use, nomenclature and classification of wild mushrooms in four Mixtec communities and to analyze how these aspects vary according to environmental and cultural conditions among the studied communities. METHODS: In order to analyze the cultural significance of wild mushrooms for the Mixtec people, 116 non-structured and semi-structured interviews were performed from 2009 to 2014. Information about the identified species, particularly the regional nomenclature and classification, their edibility, toxicity and ludic uses, the habitat of useful mushrooms, traditional recipes and criteria to differentiate between toxic and edible species, and mechanisms of knowledge transmission were studied. The research had the important particularity that the first author is Mixtec, native of the study area. A comparative qualitative analysis between the richness of fungal species used locally and the official information of the natural vegetation cover, soil erosion and economic marginalization in each of the studied communities was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 106 species of mushrooms were identified growing in pine and oak forest, deciduous tropical forest and grassland; among the identified mushrooms we recorded 26 species locally consumed, 18 considered toxic, 6 having ludic uses and the remaining 56 species not being used in the studied areas but some of them having potential as food (56 species) or medicine (28 species). We recorded that 80, 22 and 4 species are ectomycorrhizal, saprotrophic and parasites, respectively. Our study shows that a complex and accurate knowledge related with the use, nomenclature, classification, ecology, gastronomy of wild mushrooms has been developed by Mixtecs; and that there is a relation between natural vegetation cover, lower soil erosion and higher economic marginalization and richness, knowledge and use of mushrooms in the studied communites. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that conservation and adaptation of ancestral mycological knowledge survives mainly through oral transmition, maintenance of cultural identity, forest protection, preservation native language and also paradoxically through the current socieconomical marginality among the Mixtec people. We also found that those studied communities with a combination of higher vegetation cover of natural pine and oak forests, lower soil erosion and higher economic marginalization showed a greater richness and knowledge of wild mushrooms. Use and sustainable management of wild mushrooms can be an alternative for local integrated development, but local knowledge and traditional worldview should be included into the regional programs of Mixtec biocultural conservation.