Abstract
A wild mushroom food custom was investigated in the small town of Heguri, Nara Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Deciduous trees mixed with evergreen broadleaved trees dominate the slopes as a secondary forest, while bamboo stands and a Japanese red pine forest grow closely around the villages that make up the town. Here, more than 200 mushroom species grow in the stands and forests, of which only 9 are traditionally gathered and consumed. These nine species are limited to ectomycorrhiza-forming basidiomycetes associated with Japanese red pine as symbiotic partners. Other types of mushrooms found in the broad-leaved forest are not harvested, even though some are known as commercially cultivated fungi or are popularly used elsewhere, especially in northeastern Japan. This study revealed tight relationships among people, the red pine forest, and ectomycorrhizal fungi, forming a wild mushroom food custom typical to southwestern Japan.
