Diversity of Wild Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms in China: Past Studies and Future Prospects

摘要

Nearly 1 000 taxa of edible and medicinal mushrooms were reported from China. Due to their phenotypic plasticity and morphological stasis, many species of edible or medicinal fungi are not easily recognizable based on merely morphological characters. Our recent intensive researches on two of the most important genera of highly-prized edible and medicinal mushrooms (the Boletus edulis complex and Morchella) revealed that numerous species including morphologically recognizable and cryptic ones occur in China, many of which were not recognized before. Previously, only six species of porcini (the complex of B. edulis) were recorded in China. Our study revealed unexpected species diversity and endemism within the complex, with ten novel phylogenetic species uncovered among the 53 Chinese collections, comprising one-third of the known porcini species worldwide. To date, only five taxa of true morel (Morchella) species were originally described from China. Our phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences from 361 specimens of Morchella resolved 29 species in China compared with 22 in Europe and 19 in North America. Eleven novel phylogenetically distinct species of the true morels were discovered in China. All studies on the two representative groups of economically important mushrooms remarkably increased their species numbers, and thus, the documented 1 000 edible mushroom species may only represent the tip of the iceberg of the edible fungal resources in China. In the near future, it is necessary to accelerate the discovery and documentation of fungal species based on both morphological and molecular data. In addition, effective strategies for conservation and utilization of fungal resources require a clear understanding of the populations of the target mushroom species. Population genetic studies of selected edible mushroom species will provide more information about the genetic diversity within a single species and contribute to improving management strategy on sustainable utilization of edible fungal resources in China.