Gathering mushrooms in the forest, few of us think that they, like any other plants and animals, may be on the verge of extinction. Moreover, some of them have already become extinct and are no longer growing in our country. What are these extinct mushroom species? And which are currently threatened with extinction?
What role do fungi play in the global ecosystem?
Many people think that mushrooms are only needed for food. Of course, they are beautiful in fried and boiled, and dried, and pickled forms. However, in addition to ridding people of hunger, they play a huge role in the global ecosystem. The fact is that it is mushrooms that are the indispensable element that is necessary not only for people, but also for nature.
For example, saprophytic species of fungi process unnecessary plant debris and waste products of other plants, and during their nutrition they return some of the substances back to the soil. At the same time, substances rejected by fungi are easily absorbed by other representatives of the ecosystem. What are rare and endangered species of mushrooms, read on.
Mycorrhizal fungi growing on trees help supply their “symbiotic neighbors” with the moisture they need. Yeast mushrooms are considered excellent raw materials for the food industry. Penicillins are used in the production of penicillin.
In a word, mushrooms are useful and necessary for the full development of plants, animals and humans. However, due to environmental pollution, due to deforestation, many of them are on the verge of extinction. Every year, endangered species of mushrooms only increase. And the number of useful species is reduced. To prevent the extinction of mushroom species, you need to know which species are in danger.
Amanita pineal, or the first candidate for extinction
One of the first species of mushrooms on the list of rare ones is the pineal fly agaric. This is a pretty beautiful mushroom representative with a white leg and a hat. It has a white fleshy flesh, angular and large scales, a large, almost terry ring in the middle of the legs. Its length is 8-15 cm, and its width is 2-4 cm. At an earlier age, representatives of this type have a characteristic striped pattern that borders the mushroom leg.
Surprisingly, this rare fly agaric is edible. It can be torn off and, after pretreatment, eat without fear of poisoning. If you are interested in endangered species of mushrooms in Russia, then this is exactly the species that needs protection. According to preliminary information, pineal fly agaric can be found in oak forests of the Belgorod region.
Curly Sparassis, or Mushroom Cabbage
The second mushroom that needs protection is curly sparassis. Due to the unusual structure of the cap, it is often called mushroom or rabbit cabbage. Extremely rare edible mushroom belonging to the Sparass family.
Outwardly, it looks like a sea sponge or the head of a young cabbage in an open form. His hat has a round or irregular spherical shape of 5-20 cm in height and about 6-30 cm in width. Sometimes the weight of such an amazing specimen can reach 6-10 kg. This species grows near trees and on stumps.
It can be included in endangered species of mushrooms in Russia, since it is extremely rare in our country. For the same reason, it was sparassis that was listed in the Red Book. At the moment, its collection in nature is strictly prohibited, so some lovers of mushrooms breed it artificially.
With needles but no hedgehog
An unusual structure has another representative of endangered mushrooms - a needle raincoat. It is characterized by the presence of a round hat with numerous spikes. The diameter of his body is only 2-4 cm. It is equipped with a large rounded head-cap and a relatively short leg. This mushroom lives in shady coniferous and deciduous forests. They grow on wood covered with rot. They are found in single copies.
Endangered species of Red Book mushrooms: white boletus
Another beautiful edible mushroom that is threatened with extinction is the boletus white. It belongs to the genus Leccinum and has a characteristic white color and a fresh mushroom smell. He has an elongated leg with small brownish or light oblong scales and a small round hat with a total diameter of about 25 cm.
You can meet such a mushroom in the Leningrad, Penza, Murmansk and Moscow regions.
Disappearing fungus bruise, or blue gyropoorus
If you are interested in rare and endangered species of mushrooms, then you should pay attention to the amazing bruise mushroom. What is its feature? This is a large mushroom with a thick hat, reaching a diameter of 5-15 cm. It has a flat or slightly convex gray-brown or brown-yellow hat. Its leg is rather thick, with a thickening at the base. The leg length, as a rule, is 5-10 cm, and the thickness is from 1.5 to 3 cm.
If you pick such a mushroom and break it, you can see that at its break the main color of the leg will change. It will turn blue or purple. You can find the mushroom in mixed or deciduous forests under birches, oaks and chestnuts. However, it is extremely rare in nature, therefore it is listed in the Red Book.
Chestnut Mushroom with Velvet Hat
Paying attention to all the endangered species of plants and mushrooms, one cannot but tell about the chestnut mushroom. This is a beautiful variety of hat-shaped tubular mushrooms with a brownish-colored leg, hollow inside. Outwardly, it looks like a white mushroom, in contrast to which it has a chestnut-brown or red-brown hat with a diameter of 40 to 110 mm.
You can see it in the Caucasus, in the south of Russia and in Western Siberia. It grows mainly in the period from July to September. It is extremely rare in nature, and therefore is listed in the Red Book.
Rare griffin curly, or ram mushroom
Answering the question about what rare and endangered species of mushrooms exist, let us pay attention to curly grifola. This is a unique edible mushroom, which has an unusual curly structure with a fruit body of about 80 cm. Often, such mushrooms are able to reach 10 or more kg.
As a rule, a ram mushroom consists of a large number of small flat caps no more than 10 cm in diameter. At the same time, all the hats have separate legs emanating from one common base.
This mushroom often grows at the base of trees such as maple, beech, chestnut. It is extremely rare. What else endangered species of mushrooms exist, we tell further.
Fancy Cobweb Purple
Purple cobweb is a beautiful mushroom found in the Leningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk, Vologda and Sverdlovsk regions.
Cobweb is an edible mushroom with a characteristic blue-violet color. He has a pillow-shaped hat with a diameter of about 15 cm, as well as a high stalk 6-12 cm high and 1-2 cm wide. In its upper part there are small scales.
Lacquered medicinal tinder
In rare and endangered species of plants and mushrooms, it is worth writing such a saprophytic representative of the Ganoderma family as the varnished tinder. This is a beautiful flat mushroom, better known as the "Mushroom of Immortality" or "Lin-ji." It has a smooth surface of a hat of red, brown or violet color and dense woody pulp.
Its main feature is the beneficial substances that it contains. It is thanks to them that medicinal tinctures are made from this fungus.
This mushroom, listed in the Red Book, grows in the Amur Region, in Japan, Korea and China. It is found in Russia in the North Caucasus, as well as in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories.
Unusual blackberry coral
Studying endangered species of plants, mushrooms and animals, one cannot help but recall such an unusual mushroom as coral blackberries. This is a very rare mushroom representative, having the sixth category of status of rarity and related to natural monuments.
The blackberry has a non-standard structure and visually resembles white sea coral. It grows on stumps and trunks of trees (most often - on birches and aspens). It is found in the reserves of the Russian Federation, on the territory of Lake Baikal, in Eastern Siberia. It is entered in the Red Book.
What mushrooms are considered already extinct?
In the column "extinct mushroom species", you should include such representatives as:
- Fellorinia is lumpy.
- Hadrian's fun.
- Omphaline burning.
- The flake is carbonaceous.
- Coal geopixis.
- Carbophilus and others.
Every year this list is only replenished. I am glad that many rare mushrooms at the moment people have learned to artificially grow. Such an approach, according to experts, will help minimize extinct mushroom species.
