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BEN # 204
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No. 204 October 3, 1998
aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
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Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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DR. FRED GANDERS, NEW DIRECTOR OF UBC HERBARIUM, VANCOUVER, B.C.
From: ASPT Current News Contents
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu//ASPT/current.html
Dr. Fred R. Ganders, Professor of Botany at UBC, has been ap-
pointed the new Director of the University of British Columbia
Herbarium. In addition to his long standing research interests
in mating systems and Hawaiian Bidens, he is currently writing a
Flora of the Fraser Valley (from Hope, B. C. south to the US
border and west to the Strait of Georgia). Dr. Helen Kennedy has
been appointed Honorary Curator of Vascular Plants.
Please direct any inquiries to the Director:
Dr. Fred R. Ganders, Director, UBC Herbarium, Botany Department
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4.
Phone: 604 822-3344; Fax 604 822-6089; Herbarium e-mail:
UBC@unixg.ubc.ca
DECLINE OF JAPANESE PINE MUSHROOMS (TRICHOLOMA MATSUTAKE)
Abbreviated chapter from: Hosford, D., D. Pilz, Randy Molina, &
M. Amaranthus. 1997. Ecology and management of the commer-
cially harvested American matsutake mushroom. General Techni-
cal Report PNW-GTR-412, USDA Forest Service, Pacific
Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR. 68 p.
Pine mushrooms, matsutake, were once widespread and common in
mixed pine forests of Japan from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu
in the south. After World War II, they became increasingly
scarce, in spite of efforts to enhance their productivity in
local forests. By 1981, productivity has declined to one-tenth
of the pre-War levels, and imports of Japanese matsutake, espe-
cially from South Korea, increased greatly to meet demand.
Since 1905, the matsutake forests of Japan have been plagued by
the pine nematode (Bursaphelenchus lignicolus). The nematode is
transmitted to living pines by the Japanese pine sawyer
(Monochamus alternatus), a longhorn beetle. Invasion of vascular
tissue by the nematode results in wilt and rapid death. Most
host pines of matsutake, including the Japanese black and red
pines (Pinus thurbergii and P. densiflora), are very susceptible
to this devastating pathogen. Since the introduction of the
nematode at the start of the 20th century on the southern island
of Kyushu, it has steadily spread north-eastward. The current
blight is the fourth in a series of epidemics since 1905. The
third epidemic lasted a decade, peaked in 1979, and caused an
estimated loss of 2.4 million cubic meters of pine wood. The
current epidemic began in 1990 and killed enough trees in one
year to build 50,000 houses. Recent reports indicate that the
disease has also spread to forest of Okinawa, Taiwan, South
Korea, North Korea, and China. A combination of climatic, socio-
economic and biological factors in Japan tends to increase the
magnitude of the blight. Pine mortality from the nematode often
increases after prolonged drought and high temperatures, which
weaken the resistance of the pines to the parasite.
Although the Japanese have developed many silvicultural
strategies to manage matsutake forests, matsutake production has
disappeared from the vast stretches of mountain pine forests
that die each year. Indeed, Japan's temples and public parks may
eventually become the last refuge for matsutake pine forests, as
suggested by a respected Kyoto gardener, Mr. Shiro Nakane (c.
1992):
"To me, this already seems to be the case. When I was a
kid, I'd walk on the paths right up there and gather
matsutake from many, many red pines. Now I sometimes go up
to the mountain with my two boys and my dog, but the
forest there has changed. The trees I remember are gone.
Still, different trees are appearing, and maybe this is
nature's way."
CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST & DAO REPRINTS
From: Stephen Darbyshire <darbyshires@em.agr.ca>
The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club has lost its storage space
and must dispose of back issues of the Canadian Field-Naturalist
in 4-6 weeks. If you would be interested in an almost complete
set of back issues for shippping costs only, you can let me
know. There are also copies of John Macoun's autobiography
available under similar terms.
DAO herbarium in Ottawa has a list of reprints available for
free distribution. It is too long a list to include in BEN. You
can ask Gisele Mitrow <mitrowg@em.agr.ca> and she will send you
the list as an e-mail attachment.
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