New reports, new species, and high diversity of Cantharellus in the southern Appalachians

ABSTRACT

Chanterelles (genus Cantharellus) are among the most popular wild edible mushrooms worldwide. Efforts to understand chanterelle diversity have yielded numerous new species in recent years, particularly in eastern North America. We constructed a multilocus phylogeny including all described temperate species of Cantharellus and newly collected specimens from the eastern United States with an emphasis on southern Appalachia. We describe a new species, Cantharellus vicinus, an oak-associated chanterelle known only from lower-elevation areas in east Tennessee, based on phylogenetic and morphological data. Cantharellus vicinus is characterized by a compact stature, bright yellow hymenophore that turns salmon when mature, white stipe, and pale yellow pileus with a whitish bloom. The southeastern Cantharellus minor f. intensissimus is elevated to species level based on morphological and molecular evidence. The taxon is epitypified due to the sterile state of the holotype and ambiguity concerning application of the name. Evaluation of genetic diversity and gene conflict within Cantharellus camphoratus shows that it is a widespread species with populations in Atlantic Canada, the southeastern United States, and Japan. Similarly, C. cibarius and C. tenuithrix form complexes and may be more geographically widespread than previously thought. Additionally, we report the first known instances of Cantharellus betularum, C. corallinus, and C. altipes from the southern Appalachian Mountains.

KEYWORDS:

• Cantharellales
• chanterelles
• network analysis
• systematics
• taxonomy
• 2 new taxa
• 1 new typification

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Paul Super and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for collection permit GRSM-2020-SCI-2452. We also thank Greg Thorn (UWO) and Carrie LaChance for providing specimens. We acknowledge Noah Walker and Django Grootmyers for laboratory assistance and Mary Grace Graddy for assisting with GenBank sequence submission. We thank Greg Thorn and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2022.2141558

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the TENN Herbarium Hesler Fund Research Award and Breedlove, Dennis Fund Award to R.A.S., as well as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant no. 1452154 to R.A.S. and National Science Foundation DEB 2030779 to P.B.M.