Relationship between the yield of Tricholoma baka-matsutake and ecological environment in Baoshan Prefecture, western Yunnan Province

'Songrong', with synonym 'Songkoumo', is taxonomically Tricholoma matsutake (Ito et Imai) Sing. It is one of the widely known wild mushrooms with extremely high value for food and medicine. These edible mushrooms take an important role in forest products, especially in the forest regions of southwestern and northeastern China. It was reported that some 6116 t raw mushrooms of 'Songrong' in China were exported and created $82.22 million USD income in 1996. Though the geographic distribution of 'Songrong' mushrooms may not include areas in Baoshan Prefecture, western Yunnan Province, the ecological conditions of this area is greatly distinct. On the basis of our recent investigation, 'Songrong' mushrooms in this area were identified to be the fungal species of Tricholoma baka-matsutake Hongo, as called 'Jia Songrong' or 'Qinggang Songrong', which is another valuable mushroom and closely related to the real 'Songrong', i.e. T. matsutake. This paper reports the results of ecological survey on the occurrences of 'Jia Songrong'. The occurrence of T. baka-matsutake mushrooms and their distribution has been investigated. These mushrooms began to develop fruit body in mid-July and ended in the last ten days of October with the peak occurrence in late August. The product in thd main fruiting period from early August to early September took 69.9% of its annual output. Furthermore, the ecological conditions of their occurrences in this area were covered and the sustainable development discussed in this paper.