Species clarification of the culinary Bachu mushroom in western China

Abstract

The Bachu mushroom, previously identified as Helvella leucopus, is characterized by a saddle-shaped, to irregularly lobed pileus, with a gray, brown to blackish hymenium and a whitish to pale receptacle surface and white, terete stipe with enlarged basal grooves. It has high economic value, mostly as a dietary supplement in western China, and its medicinal functions have raised broad interest. In the present paper species of the Bachu mushroom in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, western China were investigated with morphology and DNA sequence data. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from ITS, 28S and TEF1 sequence data strongly supported lineages corresponding to morphological features. The Bachu mushroom, which differs from the European Helvella leucopus, comprises two distinct new species, namely Helvella bachu and Helvella subspadicea. In this paper we introduce the new species with descriptions and figures and compare them with similar taxa. The European Helvella spadicea is also re-examined, described and illustrated.

• Helvellaceae
• phylogeny
• sand-inhabiting fungi
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful for the help of Dr Mario Filippa, Agliano Terme, Italy, for providing specimens and color images. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31360015, 31460048, 31560011). Kevin D. Hyde thanks the Chinese Academy of Sciences, project number 2013T2S0030, for the visiting professorship for senior international scientists at Kunming Institute of Botany.