Cantharellus zangii

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***Cantharellus zangii*** is a species of fungus in the family Cantharellaceae. Described as new to science in 2012, it is found only in a small area in northwestern Yunnan, China. The fungus produces small, bright orange fruit bodies (mushrooms) with thin flesh and a long tapering stipe. Microscopically, the mushroom features thin-walled hyphae with clamp connections, and large ellipsoid-shaped spores.

## Taxonomy

*Cantharellus zangii* was described in 2012 in the scientific journal *Mycotaxon* by Xiao-Fei Tian and colleagues. The type collection was made in August 2008 in the Bitahai National Natural Reserve, located in Shangri-La County, Yunnan, China. The authors classify the fungus in *Parvocantharellus*, a subgenus of *Craterellus* that was originally proposed by Guillaume Eyssartier and Bart Buyck in 2001. The specific epithet *zangii* honors Chinese mycologist Zang Mu, founder of the Cryptogamic Herbarium in the Kunming Institute of Botany.

## Description

Fruit bodies have caps ranging in shape from umbonate to flat to slightly concave, reaching a diameter of Template:Convert. The cap is smooth with an ochre to yellow colour. Initially curved inward, the cap margin eventually straightens in maturity. The golden-colored gills, which have a decurrent attachment to the stipe, are up to 2 mm high with a 1–2 mm-spacing between them. They are connected by transverse cross-veins. There are short, branched gills near the cap edge. The dark orange-yellow to orange stipe measures Template:Convert long by 0.3–0.4 cm thick. It is hollow and sometimes slightly curved. The thin flesh has a mild taste and an odor similar to plants in the genus *Osmanthus*.

Spores are ellipsoid, thin-walled, and hyaline (translucent), measuring 8.5–11 by 5–6.5 µm. They sometimes have multiple tiny oil droplets. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are slender and club-shaped, usually five-spored (sometimes six) with sterigmata 5–6 µm long, and dimensions of 75–85 by 6–9 μm. All hyphae have distinct clamp connections.

Similar species include the European *Cantharellus queletii*, but this mushroom can be distinguished by its solid stipe and the lack of cross-veins between the gills. Another European species, *Craterellus tubaeformis*, has a horn-shaped fruit body with depressed caps, and grey or greyish-white gills.

## Habitat and distribution

The fruit bodies of *Cantharellus zangii* grow on the ground singly or in groups in mixed forests. The predominant trees are *Larix potaninii* var. *macrocarpa* and *Picea likiangensis*. The species has been collected from only the type locality and from nearby locales in Shangri-La County (northwestern Yunnan). The habitat is subalpine, at elevations of about Template:Convert. The type locality, Bitahai National Natural Reserve, is a highly biodiverse area and has the highest elevation and highest latitude of all wetland reserves in Yunnan.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Tian 2012`
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Eyssartier 2001`
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Zhou 2006`

## External links

* Template:IndexFungorum

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