Zhu-Liang Yang

A new species of Lepiota from China

In this report we describe the three species in Lepiota sect. Lepiota occurring in tropical China. Lepiota attenuata is a new species and is characterized by a pileus with brownish yellow squamules and radially sulcate striate margin, penguin-shaped spores that are distinctively narrowed toward the apex and inflated submoniliform or catenulate elements in the pileus covering. We compared the type specimens of L. metulispora and L. thrombophora with tropical Chinese specimens; both taxa occur in the study area. Phylogenetic relationships among the tropical Chinese species and other closely related species in the genus were inferred based on DNA sequences of the nuclear ribosomal genes (ITS, LSU and IGS) and the mitochondrial small ribosomal RNA gene (mtSSU).

Two new unusual Leucoagaricus species (Agaricaceae) from tropical China with blue-green staining reactions

Most species of the genus Leucoagaricus have been described from temperate regions in North America and Europe, but little is known about the genus from tropical areas. In this report we describe two new species of Leucoagaricus, namely La. flavovirens and La. atroazureus, from tropical China. The two species are characterized by turning blue-green or dark blue where bruised and by unique phylogenetic placement. Two new combinations, namely La. viriditinctus and La. caerulescens, are proposed. The neotype of La. viridiflavus from India was found to differ from La. flavovirens based on morphology and ITS sequence comparison. A monophyletic group of four bluing species from Old World tropics is recovered but with poor measures of branch support.

Species clarification of the culinary Bachu mushroom in western China

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.