NPR feature on Mushroom Hunting in the PNW
"Fat of the Land"-Man Langdon Cook, Ann Dornfeld and Daniel Winkler
After the hunt Langdon cooked the chanties up in the parking lot, yummy!
Cordyceps militaris & Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides
Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides and Cordyceps militaris.
Photo © D. Winkler
Cordyceps militaris
Cordyceps militaris fruiting out of a lepidopteran pupa found by Marian Maxwell. As other true Cordyceps-species it is typified by brightly colored, fleshy stromata. A common name used in the UK is Scarlet Caterpillarclub. Photo © D. Winkler
Drumstick Truffleclub
A Cordyceps militaris stroma close-up showing the "blister"-like perithecia. Inside a perithecium longish asci sacs are embedded in which spores are produced. Photo © D. Winkler
A cross section reveals the structure of the fruiting body. Photo © D. Winkler
Note, how the perithecia are only partially submersed in the stroma of Cordyceps militaris.
Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides
Twin Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides parasitizing on a twin deer truffle (Elaphomyces sp.).
Snaketongue Truffleclub is a good English name used in the UK. Until 2007 it was classified as a true Cordyceps in the Clavicipitaceae family, but now all truffle parasitizing Cordyceps and closely related species that attack nymphs of cicadas are classified as Elaphocordyceps based on an extensive phylogenetic study published by Sung et al. While Cordyceps militaris is the type species in the new Cordycipitaceae family, Elaphocordyceps and Ophiocordyceps species are in the newly erected Ophiocordycepitaceae with Ophiocordyceps unilateralis as type specimen.
This Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides specimen was found by Christian Schwarz
in the Sol Duc forests on the Olympic Peninsula. Photo © D. Winkler
Cross section of the stroma of Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides. Photo © D. Winkler
The perithecia are completely immersed in stroma tissue in an ordinal arrangement, where perithecia are oriented in a right angle to the surface.
In the lower center of the image a larva is visible, a parasite parasitizing a parasite,
or more neutrally formulated "The web of life". Photo © D. Winkler
Sporulating Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides. This photo was taken one day after the photo above showing the complete Cordyceps-truffle complex. Sporulation had commenced.
Whereas spores in the Cordycipitaceae subdivide into part-spores or propagules, spores in the Ophiocordycipitaceae remain whole and can not subdivide. Photo © D. Winkler
Elaphocordyceps capitata
The most common Cordyceps in the PNW seems to be Elaphocordyceps capitata, the Drumstick Truffleclub. This specimen was found by Thom O'Dell near Sol Duc on the Olympic Peninsula in late October 2008. Photo © D. Winkler
The fertile tissue (brown) of the Elaphocordyceps capitata stroma is very distinct from the non-fertile yellow tissue. Photo © D. Winkler
Two freshly dug Elaphocordyceps capitata specimen found near Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR in 2004. The stroma attaches in these specimens directly onto the Elaphomyces truffle, which it is parasitizing. Photo © D. Winkler
More images of other Cordyceps species on my MushRoaming webpages
Caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) pages
2012 Cordyceps Expedition to Tibet
Seattle Times Article on PSMS Mushroom Show includes Cordyceps militaris image
MushRoaming Bolivia Jan. 2012
Amazing Amazon - MushRoaming Bolivia
Jan. 20 to Feb 2, 2012
After last February's awesome tour in Ecuador, Larry Evans, Montana mycologist known from “Know your Mushrooms” and Daniel Winkler, MushRoaming LLC, will be teaming up again for an eco-tour exploring Bolivia's rich biodiversity and especially its mushrooms. We will meet in La Paz, explore the city and then slowly travel down the Andes to the cloud forest Yungas. Down in the Amazon rain forest we will travel half a day up river by canoe to an eco-lodge where will stay for 6 days surrounded by stunning pristine Amazon Rain Forest to explore the local funga, flora & fauna. Here we will have additional knowledgeable local guides assisting Larry who has researched the Amazonian funga for many years and Daniel. Then we will be returning to the high altitude environment and explore Uyuni, the worlds largest salt fields. More details on: www.MushRoaming.com
(Above the text: Phallus indusiatus, the Veiled Stinkhorn)
Gene that makes insect climb after infection isolated
Many Cordyceps species direct their victims into locations that are optimal for host digestion and spore dispersal - i.e. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, and they might use similar strategies as described in this interesting article. Don't forget to check out the links at the bottom of the article.
"New" Cordyceps Article published
This paper has been published before in Chinese Journal of Grassland vol. 32 Suppl. p. 96-108. However, the printed version was already outdated before it was published in June 2010 and I had an updated version online that was last update June 11, 2010.
The latest version to be downloaded here, last reviewed in March 2011 was unfortunately published as "2009".
Here a twin yartsa gunbu known in Amdo Tibetan as "Tongbu ranyi" (=1000 bu horn two), better translated as "two fruiting bodies occurring once among a thousand yartsa gunbu".
Cordyceps militaris en masse on the market in Chengdu
Well, this bit was written 6 weeks ago, and we took some of the fresh Cordyceps militaris with us to Lhasa where we enjoyed Cordyceps Pizza at the Kyichu hotel. The staff there is already used to me bringing in exotic mushrooms. Last year I found some Sulfur Shelf in Kongpo (Laetiporus sulpherus var. miniatus)
Cordyceps militaris on a garlic & onion Pizza with some Lhasa beer, it does not get much better!
Slim Bu Picking in 2011?
However, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas have many different climate zones and I was hoping that some other areas would report a better harvest, but that seems not to be the case. I was also told from Garze / Ganzi / Kandze TAP in West Sichuan that this season is not very good and today I saw a newspaper article out of Bhutan that writes about the reduced harvest there. Since these a quite distinct areas located far apart on the Plateau, it seems like the whole harvest in 2011 will be lower than in 2010 and probably also below 2009 and 2008, but there are no reliable data to lift any of this out of sheer speculation. Still, since the 2010 harvest was so high it was to be expected that that the 2011 harvest would be bellow 2010 was to expected.
Shrinking Yartsa Gunbu Harvest in Yushu Prefecture?
One of Qinghai most famous counties when it comes to caterpillar fungus resources is Zadoi / Dzato in Yushu / Gyegu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The main objective of our field work here is looking into Ophiocordyceps sinensis sustainability issues. Unfortunately Qinghai Province has no program to collect yartsa gunbu production numbers. Thus we decided to ask collectors, dealers and administrators to get a feeling regarding changes in annual production. Most people interviewed report a lower "bu" harvest [besides the fact that 2011 is a lousy season here in Yushu TAP, Southwest Qinghai]. Everyone acknowledges that there are many more collectors on the mountains than there used to be, but still there is also less bu than there used to be. One common example is that areas that used to be very rich in bu have little left and that now they have to search much bigger areas with lower concentration. Maybe this shift is due to over-predation? So it looks like we are facing sustainability issues after all, too bad.
I am working with WWF China on an initiative to cut the collection season short to make sure some bu stays in the ground to fully sporulate and provide spores to infect larvae for the next harvest season. After having gone though a bunch of questions regarding yartsa gunbu harvest, income etc. we show a sequence of images depicting the different stages of maturing caterpillar fungus. Then I have a graph showing the life cycle of the ghost moth. Some collectors are totally fascinated by that info and even said, you should make brochures and get this info out. So far, most people reacted positively to the suggestion of cutting the season short when bu loses much of its value and sporulates heavily. In general everyone wants the resource secured and this approach makes sense to them and does not stop collection altogether. Everyone is totally dependent on that fungal money, outright scarily so.
WWF's Norbu is sharing the maturing stages of caterpillar fungus with a collector lady, who suggested we should turn it into a brochure and get it on TV to inform all collectors.
A yartsa gunbu deal on the grassland. Zadoi midsize bu went for 38RMB a piece, roughly 5US$.
Bu collectors camp in the back country of Zadoi. In front typical habitat that is otherwise mainly yak summer pasture. There were several camps in this valley, this one had 50 tents, so roughly 150 to 250 people. Whole families move up here for the 5 weeks collection season.
Grandpa stays back with the kids too small to search for bu.
Research update from Qinghai
It seems that the 2011 harvest season might be less productive than last year's season, which was very good.
Still the price for caterpillar fungus is quite similar to 2010, just a little bit higher so far. However the price might move up further if the harvest turns out to be disappointing due to worries about a shortage of yartsa gunbu supply.
Several sources indicated that a dry winter is seen as the reason for a lower production. Although it is raining right now in Jyekundo = Yushu, at this point this moisture input would not increase the quantity of fruitings, but might improve the quality.
Anyway, a few more days on the grasslands might give us a better understanding what is actually going on.
Miss An showing some bu that goes for 125,000RMB [20,000USD] per pound
Swiss Caterpillar Secrets or Secretions
Meanwhile NZZ, Neue Zuericher Zeitung, Switzerland's leading news paper, informed their readers this week that in Qinghai Province people are searching the grasslands for precious caterpillar secretions ["Raupen-Sekret"]. NZZ also knew that these secretions are very desired in Tibetan and Chinese medicine.
Rather embarrasing journalistic secretions by a NZZ writer I'd say.