Botanical MrsKrvi I.laflets Vol. 29, No. I 



Winter 1983 



NOTES ON THE ETHNOMYCOLOCV OF 



BOSTON S CHINATOWN 



E. Wade Davis 



Unlike the comparatively mycophobic North Americans, the 

 Chinese ha\e long used and appreciated a wide \ariet> of fungi. 

 Gathered from the wild or carefully cultivated, fungi pro\ ide the 

 Chinese with tonics and condiments, foods and medicines. The 

 following notes describe briefly several of the most interesting 

 fungi purchased in Boston's Chinatown but widel}' available in 

 Oriental markets throughout the L'nited States. 



Auricularia auricula Hooker 



The best known edible phragmobasidiomycete is Auricularia 

 auricula of the Auriculariaceae. This fungus, known commonly 

 as the Black Fungus or Wood Ear, grows ubiquitously in north- 

 ern temperate forests of both Europe and Asia usually in associ- 

 ation with oak, elm, willow, poplar or chestnut trees. The 

 fruiting bodies, which surface in late summer or earl\ fall on top 

 of rotting wood, are translucent and gelatinous, with a velvety 

 grey, outer corte.x while the inner concaxe surface bearing the 

 hymenium is brown. The shape and fleshiness of the fungus is 

 that of a club ear and hence in Europe it has the unfortunate 

 vernacular name of Jew's Ear. 



Although Auricularia auricularia is only occasionally eaten in 

 Europe, in China it is the fungus most frequently sold as a 

 vegetable. An active commerce exists throughout the country, 

 and the center of cultivation is eastern Szechuan. There in the 

 temperate mountains small oak trees are felled, cut into three 

 foot sections and stacked at 90 degrees to each other to allow for 

 proper aeration. To ma.ximize productivity, the stacks are set in 

 30% light and on slopes of 10 to 30 degrees. The wood sets for a 

 year or more, until it >ellows and emits a sour odour of alcohol. 

 Between April and June, the logs are artificially innoculated 



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