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Studies on True Morels (Morchella) from North Kashmir, India


Affiliations
1 Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
2 Department of Botany, Government Degree College, Sopore 193 201, India
 

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) India, harbours a rich diversity of mushrooms, but sporadic work has been carried out till date to explore the morel mushroom diversity. Besides, only a few morel species have been identified based on classical taxonomic studies, and taxonomic confusion exists regarding the differentiation and classification of morel mushrooms. Keeping this in mind, the present research aimed to analyse the geographical distribution and taxonomic revision of true morels from North Kashmir using modern phylogenetic tree analysis along with classical phenetic approaches. In this study, 11 collections of true morels, identified as Morchella esculenta, Morchella crassipes, Morchella vulgaris, Morchella tridentina, Morchella elata and Morchella kaibabensis, were found widely distributed in 16 sampling study sites. The true morels were found to be extensively distributed in the Kupwara district, followed by Baramulla, but were less common in the Bandipora district, J&K. To the best of our knowledge, the documented species M. vulgaris, M. tridentina and M. kaibabensis have not been recorded earlier from the study area.

Keywords

Geographical Distribution, Morels, Mushroom Flora, Phenetic Approaches, Phylogenetic Analysis, Taxonomic Revision.
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  • Studies on True Morels (Morchella) from North Kashmir, India

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Authors

Abdul Hamid Wani
Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
Mehrajud Din Talie
Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
Asif Hamid Dar
Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
Pallaki Shrikhandia
Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
Mohd Yaqub Bhat
Section of Plant Pathology, Mycology, and Microbiology, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190 006, India
Tariq Ahmad Wani
Department of Botany, Government Degree College, Sopore 193 201, India

Abstract


Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) India, harbours a rich diversity of mushrooms, but sporadic work has been carried out till date to explore the morel mushroom diversity. Besides, only a few morel species have been identified based on classical taxonomic studies, and taxonomic confusion exists regarding the differentiation and classification of morel mushrooms. Keeping this in mind, the present research aimed to analyse the geographical distribution and taxonomic revision of true morels from North Kashmir using modern phylogenetic tree analysis along with classical phenetic approaches. In this study, 11 collections of true morels, identified as Morchella esculenta, Morchella crassipes, Morchella vulgaris, Morchella tridentina, Morchella elata and Morchella kaibabensis, were found widely distributed in 16 sampling study sites. The true morels were found to be extensively distributed in the Kupwara district, followed by Baramulla, but were less common in the Bandipora district, J&K. To the best of our knowledge, the documented species M. vulgaris, M. tridentina and M. kaibabensis have not been recorded earlier from the study area.

Keywords


Geographical Distribution, Morels, Mushroom Flora, Phenetic Approaches, Phylogenetic Analysis, Taxonomic Revision.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv124%2Fi5%2F607-616