Taxonomy And Resource Evaluation Of Lactarius S.l. In Northeast China

Lactarius s.l.comprises Lactarius,Lactifluus and Multifurca of Russulaceae.About 600 species have been known worldwide.Being ectomycorrhizal,the species of Lactarius s.l.play an important role in maintaining forest ecosystem,developing non-timber foresty products and mycorrhizal researches.Persoon established Lactarius in 1797 and the first report in China was in.1894.One hundred and fifty taxa of Lactarius s.l.are reported from China,among which 33 taxa are originally described from the country.Among them,52 taxa are reported in Northeast China and six taxa are described based on type specimens collected from this areas.182 specimens were collected by the author and 95 specimens were borrowed from the Cryptogamic Herbarium,Kunming Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences.Thirteen-nine taxa of Lactarius s.l.were determined,including three new species and three new records to China.The new species are Lactarius albidocinereus X.H.Wang,S.F.Shi & T.Bau,L.dilutisalmoneus X.H.Wang,S.F.Shi & T.Bau and L.olivaceorimosellus X.H.Wang,S.F.Shi & T.Bau.L.flexuosus(Pers.)Gray,Lactifluus pilosus(Verbeken,H.T.Le & Lumyong)Verbeken and Lactarius yazooensis Hesler & A.H.Sm.are new records to China.Detailed morphological description,microscopical drawings and photos of basidiocarps are provided for most of them.A key for identifying these species is given.The phylogenetic relationships among the species of Lactarius and Lactifluus respectively were inferred using Neighbor-Joining method based on ITS sequences.The phylogenetic tree of Lactarius comprises three well-supported major clades that correspond to the three the three subgenera.A review literatures regarding Lactarius s.l.shows that the utilization of Lactarius s.l.is relatively limited,mostly on the famous edible species such as Lactarius deliciosus,Lactarius hatsudake and Lactifluus lactifluus.China is rich in forest types and the real number of species in the country needs further investigation.