Biogeography of the Japanese Gourmet Fungus, Tricholoma matsutake: A Review of the Distribution and Functional Ecology of Matsutake

Abstract

Tricholoma matsutake (S. Ito & S. Imai) Singer is an ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete that produces highly prized mushrooms known as ‘true matsutake’. Recent research has shown that T. matsutake has a wide but patchy distribution in temperate and boreal forests of Eurasia and subtropical China in association with Pinus, Picea, Tsuga, Abies and even fagaceous broadleaves. Molecular analyses of the microbial communities living in shiro soil have been made in certain locations, but their generality has yet to be determined systematically and across the entire range. Variation in fruiting in relation to climate and geography has improved our understanding of matsutake phenology, and important in-roads have been made into its ecology over the past 15 years. T. matsutake is a commercially-important fungal species that plays a significant role in the functional diversity of forests in the Northern Hemisphere, but much remains to be learned about this enigmatic taxon.