The countryside in Zamto Village, Gaynekha, surrounded by oak-pine forests rich in matsutake and other fungal resources. Three times a week matsutake buyers come to Gaynekha to buy fresh matsutake. In September 2009 there were three different companies buying the mushrooms. In the past there were often a few more buyers I was told. Lots of money changes hands. A buyer sorts the matsutake according to quality and the head of the village mushroom cooperation keeps the books. Sept 16, 2009 Sangay shamu collectors [including in the center Kencho Zangmo and Dema] with their day's harvest in Zamto village. The camp of matsutake collectors on a small meadow surrounded by dense pine-oak forests. Thirty-five men from a lower village, for whom the walk up into the woods is too far for a daily hunt, are camping out here for up to two months. They pick altogether about 10 different edible species, many of these for personal consumption and as gifts. The beautiful Amethyst Deceiver or Tallowgill (Laccaria amethystina) between oak leaves.	The Buddha Mushroom - Tricholoma matsutake. Bhutan's matsutake is the same species as the Japanese matsutake. In Bhutan it is associate with pines and oaks. A newly built farm house in Gaynekha. Matsutake improved the living standard here substantially. Fungal income is being used to invest in agriculture and thus to diverse the economic base of rural households. An oak (probably Quercus semecarpifolia) with Usnea longissima lichens, which has recently been reclassified as Dolichousnea longissima (Ach.)  (Articus 2004), dangling from the branches. It Bhutan it is often known as Dakini hair; Dakinis are female beings which usually reside in a different sphere but once in a while manifest in the human dimension to help humans along the path of wisdom.  Back to earth, D. longissima is very sensitive to sulphuric air pollution and microclimatic changes brought on by logging. Thus, it has unfortunately disappeared from many sites in Europe and North America. Articus Kristina 2004. Neuropogon and the Phylogeny of Usnea s.l. (Parmeliaceae, Lichenized Ascomycetes). In: Taxon 53.4: 925-934 Kids on the way home from school marveling at a big Sangay shamu.  Other fungal treasures
Goli Shamu - Catathelasma imperialis  - The Big Cat - "A cousin of Sangay shamu"	Kencho Zangmo with a king bolete (Boletus edulis)
Sese Shamu as Cantharellus cf cibarius is known in Dzongkha. The Chanterelle is highly esteemed and very popular in Bhutan. In mid September the Himalayan Gypsy (Cortinarius / Rozites emodensis) was abundant in the woods. It is just as the closely related Gypsy mushroom  (Cortinarius caperatus / Rozites caperata) of the Northern hemisphere a choice edible.  A tiny & slimy, but beautiful bolete (Aureoboletus thibetanus) in Tango. Amanita rubrovolvata, with its typical red colored edge of its volva, remnants of the universal veil typical for Amanitas. This mushroom is also found in Japan. Amanita rubrovolvata cap surrounded by strawberry (Fragaria sp.) leaves. A sacred spring below Tango and Chari Goenba with a big carved and painted Padmasambhava image. A dark blue-gray chanterelle (Craterellus cornucopioides) known as the Horn of Plenty. It is an excellent edible, but is not often eaten in Bhutan because of its dark color. We cooked it up and it was wonderful. Near Tango I found something looking very closely to a winter chanterelles (Craterellus cf. tubaeformis), it was just a bit darker as the ones I have collected in North America and Europe. However, I was told by Wangdi, a fungophile monk that this mushroom was not edible. "Not edible" can sometimes mean, "we do not know, so we do not eat this mushroom". This winter chanterelle I would have eaten without much hesitation, but would have started out with small quantities. Helvella chinensis, also known as Helvella villosa looks like a regular small basidiomycete mushroom, but the absence of gills and the smooth hymenium reveals its ascomycete nature. Above treeline in Domende above Tango Gompa in 4000m (12,500ft).  The retreat hut was built by a monk, who had just finished his three-year retreat there. What a location! Dawa Penjor, Director of the National Mushroom Center, Daniel Winkler and Dr. Phuntsho Namgyel and a member of NMC identifying mushrooms in a farmhouse in Zamto village. The house belongs to the family of the late Aum Kuchum, the lady who had found the "first " matsutake in Bhutan, as her mushrooms as she was selling them on the market was recognized by a Japanese businessman as identical to the Japanese matsutake. Two ladies selling chanterelles, corals and corn along the Thimphu-Paro highway. At the Thimphu Vegetable Market  A beautiful open air market was recently opened in Thimphu. The market is organized by the regions where the sellers, mostly farmers selling their produce, are originating. Farmers from the lowlands offer mangos, bananas, sugar cane etc., midland farmers egg plants, potatoes, apples etc. All of them offered lot's of chili peppers, seemingly Bhutan's most beloved vegetable. The investment in such a market facility is part of the Bhutanese government's efforts to improve livelihoods of rural communities. Don't you want to buy any of my gorgeous chanterelles, big egg plants or hot chilies? Chanterelles, corals and matsutake where the most common commercial mushrooms on the market in mid September.  Also visible in this picture in the lower center are "Ripongkar", a Lyophyllum. A mushroom growing room at Bhutan's National Mushroom Center in Simtokha near Thimphu. Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is growing on oak logs, Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) in the middle, and the medicinal Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) under the shelf. Here a link to a short story on mushroom cultivation in Bhutan. The clouds lifted and allowed a peek at the most stunningly located Taktsang Goenba, the Tiger's Nest. Presenting at the Ministry of Agriculture on Sep. 17, 2009 in Thimphu Text from the Ministry webpages: The seminar, chaired by the Hon'ble Agriculture Secretary, Dasho Sherub Gyaltshen (top middle), was attended by various MoA officials (DW: front right Mr. Tshitila who introduced me to the MoA) along with a representative from the World Wildlife Fund. The “Fungi as a sustainable source of income - The Case of Yartsa Goenbub and Sangay Shamu in Tibet,” was the subject of the presentation organised by the Council of RNR Research for Bhutan (CoRRB). The presenter, Mr. Daniel Winkler (seen below extreme left), is a freelance researcher and an expert in fungi, particularly in Cordyceps and mushrooms.” Daniel Winkler presenting at the Ministry of Agriculture in Thimphu. The same night a report on the event was on the ministry's webpages. I had no idea, but received an email by someone from the US who asked me "How long ago were you in Bhutan and did ever anything come about". I had no idea what this friend was writing about, but he send a link and so I saw the brand new webpage. Both event photographs by Tandin Norbu & text in Italics by Tshering Doma.	Probably Ramaria asiatica commonly called “Bjichu kangru,” the bird foot, since the branches look just like bird feet, if you turn them over; The exact scientific name was not known in bhutan, but everybody seems to eat it.  Ronald Peterson suggested from this photo that this Ramaria should be Ramaria violaceibrunnea var.asiatica Petersen & Zang, which received species status in 1988 as Ramaria asiatica (R.H. Petersen & M. Zang) R.H. Petersen] The Himalayan Gypsy (Cortinarius emodensis) resting on its site. Link to an article on the Himalayan gypsy mushroom with more gypsy photos also from Northwest Yunnan. Aureoboletus thibetanus This bolete was very common in all the oak forests I visited. It seems to be close to Tylopilus chromapes, since it has red flakes on the stipe and a bright yellow stipe base. Amanita rubrovolvata is a small Amanita. None of the specimen I found had a cap wider than 10cm. Dorji and Katrin eating a typical Bhutanese lunch consisting of red rice, ema datsi and shamu datsi. Datsi is a cheese sauce, somewhat close to our idea of a cream sauce, and a Bhutanese favorite. Ema are green chilies. In Bhutan hot peppers are a vegetable, not a spice. Incredible amounts of hot green and red chilies are consumed daily. Not surprisingly, the shamu datsi - mushrooms in cheese sauce - were also fortified with lots of green chilies. The mushroom cooked was the Himalayan gypsy (Cortinarius emodensis), but all the chili - for my taste - overpowered the nice fungal flavor of the Gypsy. Thinn-stemmed Isaria (Isaria tenuipes), an anamorph of Cordyceps was growing on a larva in the woods below Chari Goenba. The white powder are conidia, cells that function like spores in Cordyceps anamorph. Another Isaria species growing in the same location. Here the mummified insect has been exposed, which this fungus killed and feeds from. Phylloporus sp., a gilled bolete that was common in the oak forest. Shortly after sunrise in Domende above Tango Gompa Looking down towards Punakha. Gup Karma Gyaltshen is showing his Chanterelles, he just had sliced up and spread out for drying in the sun. A lady is selling 'Sese Shamu' (Cantharellus cf cibarius). An edible orchid Cymbidium erythraeum Lindl, locally known as 'Aula Tshe' is regarded as a delicacy in Bhutan as almost all the Cymbidium species as well as some Calanthe (com. Rebecca Pradhan). Also for sale are some fern fiddle heads and a leaf, most likely an Elatostema sp., locally called 'Damroo'. . The edible orchid Cymbidium erythraeum and fern fiddleheads. There are several fiddleheads eaten as seasonal vegetable in Bhutan. Most of them belong to the genus Diplazium; the most popular one being Diplazium esculentum, locally known as "nakey" (information provided by Tandin Wangdi, of the National Herbarium, Thimphu). A Bhutanese farmer selling "Goli Shamu" or as he called it "Bone Shamu", the Big Cat (Catathelasma imperialis) on the street in Thimphu. A gompa / goenba near Tango. Jumolhari or Chomolhari, the Mountain of the goddess, with 7314 m or 23396 ft Bhutan's highest peak. It is located in the North of Paro and to the South of Tibet's Yadong. Link to Presentation Summary Bhutan's Buddha Mushroom and Other Fungi  in the Land of the Thunder Dragon Last change: 3-8-2010 Other Bhutan links: Roland's great wepbages with tons of links to many aspects of Bhutan