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› Fungi taxonomists from INBio visited Bhutan
2009-08-24
As part of the reciprocal project titled “Non Timber Forest Products Use between Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica’ two fungi taxonomist from INBio in Costa Rica were in Bhutan to exchange experiences with the Bhutanese counterparts in August 2009. Within the short span of their visit the most interesting and exciting activity was the collection, identification and documentation via photography of some of the wild mushroom species from four sites (Ura, Docchula, Sangay gang and Talakha) in Bhutan.
The team was able to preliminarily identify approximately 130 species of mushrooms with the expertise from Costa Rica. In total, over 1500 photographs of wild mushrooms have been taken. The sharing of information regarding the edibility of mushrooms was of special significance as both sides learnt of the edibility status of some species which to each party was unknown. Furthermore, there is the possibility that some of these species are new to science and some species that had first been described in Costa Rica and not documented elsewhere in the world have now reappeared in Bhutan’s forests. This shows that the South-South Cooperation leads to fruitful and exciting results. The details of the species and discoveries will unfold shortly once the identifications and reports have been finalized.
