Abstract

Mushrooms have created great excitement because of their presence especially after the down pour during the monsoon season. So a detailed survey was made in and around Navsari, south Gujarat, from July to September, 2010, to understand the morphological variability in their population which has not been done earlier. The region is a habitat of well distributed micro flora and fauna. Navsari is located between the latitude 20.95° N. It has an average elevation of 9 m above the sea level. The average maximum and minimum temperatures are 40 and 18°C, respectively, with an average annual rainfall of 122 cm. Out of several mushroom collected, 17 species were identified belonging to 2 different classes namely, Gastromycetes - Daldinia concentrica [(Xylariaceae) (cramp ball)], Lycoperedon pyriforme[(Lycoperdaceae, edible) (wood or stump puff ball)], Scleroderma citrinum (Sclerodermataceae, edible); Hymenomycetes - Cantharellus umbonatus, Coriolus versicolor (Polyporaceae, inedible),Schizophyllum commune (Schizophyllaceae, inedible) (the split gill), Ganoderma lucidum(Ganodermataceae), Ganoderma applanatum (ganodermataceae), Laetiporus sulphureus(Polyporaceae, edible), Lepiota organensis, Collybia butyracea, Lentineullus cochleatus(Aurisclpinaceae, edible), Galerina unicolor (Hymenogatraceae), Citocybe flaccida (Trichomataceae, edible), Oudemansiella redicata (Physalacriaceae, edible), Hygrophorus eburnes (Hygrophoraceae, edible) and Agaricus campestris (Agaricaceae, edible). The investigation proves that there exists a distinct biodiversity in mushroom population.

Key words: Navsari, south Gujarat, mushroom, population, flora, fauna.