[gkn]

My first post, hope you like it.

These images of mushrooms and lichen were taken on a recent mushroom hunt in the mountains of Yunnan province, China.

Recent estimates indicate that there are approximately 140,000 mushroom species on earth. 10% of these (14,000 species) have been validly named. Among these, around 50% (7,000 species) possess varying egrees of edibility, with almost half of these (over 3,000 species) considered prime edible mushrooms. About 90% of the 140,000 estimate mushroom species are likely to be wild mushrooms which are yet to be named.

Due to the special geological structure in Yunnan, its climatic conditions are particularly suitable for nourishing mushrooms. Therefore, Yunnan is the richest place for wild mushrooms in the world. According to the estimation by Zhang (2004), 850 edible mushroom species in Yunnan have been recorded. This means that the total number of edible mushrooms in Yunnan accounts for 28.3% of the 3,000 prime edible mushrooms species in the world, and represents 85.7% of the 981 species found in China.

Other than the lichen, which are considered strongly medicinal, only about three or four types of mushrooms we saw are considered edible by locals. I'm sure there are others that remain undiscovered.

There are definitely psilocybes about, but I didn't try to identify any.

The best season for mushrooms in the area is late July and early August.