Useful wild fungi of La Malinche National Park, Mexico

Abstract

This study presents a list of 93 fungi species collected from La Malinche National Park, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The fungi were gathered mainly during the rainy seasons of 1988-2002. Of the species identified, 10 were Ascomycota, 82 Basidiomycota and one Myxomycota. This study provides information about the habitat, phenology and life forms of the species studied. Further-more, an ethnobiological technique known as free listing was used to identify the most important species of fungi for 84 people. living on the volcano called La Malinche. Boletus pinophilus was the species the respondents mentioned most frequently. No differences were observed between males and females in terms of the fungi they were familiar with. There were, however, some differences in the species mentioned by the people of Javier Mina and San Isidro Buensuceso, two towns on the slopes of La Malinche.