A TAXONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHIC STUDY ON THE SONG RONG(MATSUTAKE)GROUP AND ITS ALLIED SPECIES

Abstract

Song Rong (松茸,Masutake,Pine mushriom)group is the most favorite edible mushrooms in Eastern Asia,Tricholoma matsutake (Ito et Imai) Singer var.matsutake is associated with pine forest and native to North Eastern and South Western China,it as well as in Japan and Korea. The Song Rong (Pine mushrooms) nomenclature and description has been one of the old traditional reference in China,as early as the Song Dynasty,a famous scholar named Tang Shen-Wei (唐慎微),who compiled“Reorganized Ben-Cao (Pen-Tsao)”(经史证类备急本草) (1802—1094 A.D.) in which,the Song Rong is contained.The Chinese“Song”pronounce =Pine,“Rong”=young pilose antler,the very name meaning the mushrooms associate with Pines,the young basidiocarp looks like a young pilose antler;the later followed by Chen Rin- Yu (陈仁玉)“A Treatise on Fungi”(菌谱) 1245 A.d.,who gives a more complete ecological and pharmaceutical discussions and point out,the Song Jun (枌蕈 Pine mushrooms) is appa- rently referred to Song Rong,which is generally referred to as a synonym.In addition to the above statement about the ancient nomenclature of Song Rong or Song Jun from China,simul taneously,there is a similar passage in later works by Japanese priest Kenko (兼好法师)in his “Tsurezuregusa”(徒然草) (1330-31),he noted the Masutake (Japanese pronounce:Matsu or Masu)=pine;Take=mushroom),however,the Sino-Japan calligraphy Character of Pine mu- shroom (松茸 or 松蕈) are exactly alike.Moreover,there in replaced by a varitty of the same species Tricholoma matsutake (Ito et Imai) Singer var.formosana Sawada distributed in Prov. Taiwan,China.Some other closely related but different species,the American matsutake [Tri- choloma ponderosa (Peck) Singer] has a representative only occurs in western coast of North America;the European matsutake [Tricholoma caligatum (Viv.) Ricken] is widely distributed in Europe and North Africa. Matsutake group not only forming ectomycorrhiza with conifers,even several species for- ming ectomycorrhizae with Family Fagaceae,belong to genera Ouercus,Castanopsis and Litho- carpus etc.,a common species,Tricholoma bakamatsutake Hongo,that associated with diffe- rent species of the genus Quercus from Japan and Western China.They either species Tricho- loma quercicola Zang occurs in North Yunnan and Western Sichuan,beyond the Tsanpo (Yar- lung Zangbo),where is the eastern terminus of the Himalayas proper.Some original myco- floras of temperate Asia,including China,Japan and Korea,especially in the Sino-Himalayan region of the Western China have the richest alpine Quercus forest and Matsutake group,where have survived and thrived in better conditions than similar ones in Europea and North Ame- rica. Tricholoma quercicola Zang is close to Tricholoma matsutake (Ito et Imai) Singer,but may be distinguished from the latte by its cheilocystidia,and occurs in good mycorrhizal association with Genus Quercus,never Pinus;these features also similar to Tricholoma bakamatsutake Hon- go,but differs in the larger and round in outline basidospores (6.5—10.7×5—6.5 μm),which which often shows prominent angles.The colonies and hyphae in pure culture were white and thick on agar media,and there was a developmental formation of whitish aerial hyphae,but the colonies were relatively small. A number of distribution patterns,concerning the rational exploitation,utilization,reser- vation of Matsutake group are described and illustrated.The type specimen of the new spe- cies Tricholoma quercicola is deposited in the Herbarium of Cryptogams,Kunming Institute of Botany,Academia Sinica,Kunming (HKAS).