Every early autumn, we Kanagawa Forest Instructors do a small field study to learn mushrooms in Kanagawa’s forests. Several days ago, we’ve done that for 2023, and concluded “Gee. It’s a strange year.” Reason? We’ve found fewer than usual number of mushrooms, especially those sprouting from the ground. One senior Instructor said “Hmmmm … The soil is dry. Fungi cannot grow enough to develop lots of mushrooms …”
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| Rickenella fibula. It’s a tiny mushroom cohabit with mosses. |
Mushrooms are not plants, but fungus. The standard form of them is organism spreading in network structure, secreting digestive enzymes into whichever place of sufficient humidity they are weaving the net. They then absorb dissolved molecules that constructed their environment, such as soil, fallen trees and/or dead body of creatures from Animalia. When they “eat” enough to knit dense network, they form “mushrooms” in order to spread spores for procreation. i.e. Unless the web becomes large enough to push up mushrooms, their visible overground apparition is rare. Yeah, this week, the temperature has dropped finally in Kanagawa Prefecture. The lowest temperature is constantly below 20°C which is a benchmark we can expect sprouting mushrooms. Though, this summer, we had almost a draught, and fewer typhoons have come (; my post on July 28). The ground in the forest is still preserving dry fallen leaves of last year, and we can find only a few mushrooms on the ground.
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| Death Cap. Uber-poisonous, but cute mushroom |
Finding mushrooms shoot up from the ground is fun, that’s for sure. Many of such mushrooms are mycorrhizal fungi that cohabit with the plants and exchange nutrition by weaving the hypha around plants’ roots. Mushrooms give broken-up molecules from soil or else, and plants give carbohydrate molecules created from photosynthesis. The presence of mycorrhizal fungi acts as an indicator if the forests are thriving. If mycorrhizal fungi are abundant, it means the health of trees surrounding the mushrooms are quite well as they are actively swapping food with the fungi. But if mushrooms of this type are found not much …
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| White coral fungus |
Instead, we’ve met lots of mushrooms, saprophytic fungi, covering the fallen trees due to oak tree wilt. Lots of mushrooms on lots of logs would be one consequence of raging disease for trees (my posts on August 23, 2019 and September 6, 2019). “Well, we need to update our knowledge about mushrooms of Kanagawa Prefecture ... There are such varieties of saprophytic fungi …” That’s what one of the veteran forest instructors murmured on that day. In contrast to mycorrhizal fungi, saprophytic fungi get their nutrition purely from their decomposing ability. Especially one of those festering fallen trees called white-rot fungus have enzyme that can dissolve lignin. Lignin is the thing to make trees stand high from the ground. The staff is uber hard and robust. If humans want to decompose lignin, we need many kinds of chemicals, long-long hours, and global-warming energy consumption to maintain the machines in lab. Saprophytic fungi do it naturally as their way of eating meal. It’s a superpower. It seems to me scientists are studying for utilizing fungi ability to make cost-effective method of biochemical pulping, etc. Hmmm, they have practical utility for human life then …
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| Microporus affinis (Blume & T. Nees) Kuntze, saprophytic fungi |
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| Pycnoporus cinnabarinus (Jacq.) Fr., ditto! |
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| Hypoxylon truncatum & Chicken of the Woods. The log they attached is turning the color white, which means these fungi is saprophytic. |
Even before becoming handy for producing industrial paper, saprophytic fungi really cleanup the dead bodies of plants and return the disbanded molecules to the soil. It will make the forest of nutritious ground and so to last. Yeah, it’s very important scenery of sustained biodiversity when we encounter such fungi is in action on the dead trees by oak tree wilt … Though, if it is numerous found in a forest, it’s an uneasy vista. To begin with the die-out of oak family in Kanagawa’s forests is due to long-term neglect of forest for tens of years (my posts on August 23, 2019 and September 6, 2019). Fungi is cleaning up the mess we’ve created. … Sorry, forests. If there are spirits in forests and mountains, will they accept our apology in deference to hard-working saprophytic fungi?
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| They are wild oyster mushrooms
on the dead sawtooth oak. This tasty fungi is also saprophytic. |
Speaking fungi that dramatically reduced its number in Kanagawa Prefecture, there is Rhizopogon roseolus, Shoro 松露 in Japanese, of Basidiomycetes phylum. It is mycorrhizal fungi surviving with pines. Its way of mushroom apparition is similar to Tuber of Ascomycota phylum, but in terms of evolutionary family tree, the difference between shoro and tuber is like octopus and homo sapience. Anyway, this mushroom was once so easy to find along Shonan Beach 湘南海岸. Until about 150 years ago, Tokaido 東海道, the former form of Route 1, connecting Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, ran along the Beach lined with well-tended street trees of black pines. Shoro came out around the roots of such pines. The mushroom is known to be delicious for centuries. It goes well with omelet, pilaf, grill, stir fry, etc. Those merchants along Tokaido of Shonan Beach knew this of course, and served food with Shoro in cafés along the busy artery road. One of their culinary creations was SWEET, which was probably one and the only of such things in Japan. Yep, they made sweet bean jelly mixed with candid (YES!) Shoro mushrooms 松露羊羹. It was a specialty the travelers of yester-centuries looked forward enjoying on Shonan Beach. There were many cafés dished up the treat with nice green tea … Those were the days. Such beautifully lined pines are gone, and the road along Shonan Beach is enjoyed by beachgoers with thunderous and smelling exhaust of gasoline from cars and motorbikes. Meeting with mushroom down there is REALLY rare. But don’t despair. There is one remaining sweet shop in Fujisawa City, selling bean jelly with shoro. It is Fujisawa Toshimaya-honten 藤沢豊島屋本店 (; address 1-3-28 Honcho, Fujisawa City藤沢市本町1-3-28, phone 0466-22-2046).
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| Toshimaya-honten in Fujisawa City |
I’ve been there and got one jelly; 972 yen for roughly 200g. I served it among Forest Instructors with a lengthy explanation and historical importance of such things in Kanagawa Prefecture. Look! We need to remember such tradition of loving natural bounty, blah-blah-blah. One very calm senior Instructor said, “Er, well, Naomi, but it tastes simply as sweet been jelly. Yes, it is good as a jelly, but where is the taste of mushroom!?” … True. I asked the matron of the sweet shop if they sell candid shoro mushroom. She smiled and said “These days, it’s so difficult to obtain the mushroom, and if you pay 100,000 yen for 100g of candid mushroom, we may think to sell the ingredient. In any case, the bean jelly has so small amount of mushroom. I’m sorry (and gentle smile again).” Here is a lesson to be learned about the mushrooms of Kanagawa. Be strong, mycorrhizal and saprophytic fungi in Kanagawa’s forest now!
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| Red Bean
Jelly from Toshimaya-honten. As red bean jelly, it’s delicious … taste of mushrooms? Er, nope. |
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| Clavulinopsis pulchra or Neolecta irregularis (Peck) Korf & J.K. Rogers. To make it sure which, we have to check spores in microscope. |
If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/
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