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Newsletter of the FRIENDS OF THE FARLOW Number 53 Spring 2009 K. Griffith, Editor Following the Rake of Roland Thaxter - Unearthing the Hypogeous Fungi of South America Matthew E. Smith European explorers first sailed their Early explorers of this region encountered boats through the Strait of Magellan in 1520. shores cloaked by misty southern beech trees This narrow windswept passage at the – a forest almost completely dominated by a southern tip of South America later became a few species of the genus Nothofagus. superhighway for human ships and cargo, European visitors also encountered the native first wooden sailing vessels, then guilded Patagonians, who did not sew clothes but coal-powered steamers and finally modern instead covered themselves with animal skins behemoth and slathered their bodies with grease to freighters. But endure the cold, rain, and wind. Very little in 1520 this had changed 300 years later when Charles was only a Darwin made his infamous visit to this region desolate stretch in 1832 aboard the HMS Beagle . of water that connected the Darwin documented some of the Atlantic and strange animals, plants, and customs of the the Pacific, Patagonian region during his voyage, but in where wooden these early years very little was known about ships could the microbes of South America. That began avoid the high to change when the Farlow Herbarium seas and strong curator and Harvard's cryptogamic hero, currents Roland Thaxter, visited Argentina and Chile between Tierra on a sabbatical collecting trip in 1905–1906. Del Fuego and Although best known for his studies of Figure 1. Map of South America Antarctica insect-associated fungi, Thaxter was an avid showing the southern portions of (Figure 1). collector. He snatched up cryptogams of all Chile and Argentina. Boston Mycological Club to Host 2009 New England Mushroom Foray See page 15. 2 types: lichens, mosses, algae, and many in the Ascomycota (e.g. Pezizales, different types of fungi. Thaxter mostly Elaphomycetales), the Basidiomycota (e.g. avoided the obvious fleshy fungi – perhaps the Boletales, Hysterangiales, Gomphales, mushrooms and shelf-like conchs were too Agaricales, Russulales), the Zygomycota bold and showy for his tastes or maybe he just (Endogonales), and the Glomeromycota figured that other biologists would collect (Glomus ). The vast majority of these these species. Instead of the big, conspicuous hypogeous fungi are also ectomycorrhizal. cryptogams, Thaxter gathered the smaller, This means that they live in symbiosis with the hidden treasures. Thaxter was unusual among roots of select genera of woody plants, fungal collectors because he often used a rake including Quercus (oaks), Pinus (pines) and, to collect the fungi beneath the leaf litter and of course, Nothofagus (southern beeches). within the soil. Thaxter was a truffle hunter! Many hypogeous fungi are also eaten by small mammals who inadvertently disperse the Why is it important that Thaxter was a truffle spores in their scats. truffle hunter? I will tell you. Truffle hunting is an art practiced by very few collectors, either in Thaxter's time or today. The result is that the collection records of truffles and truffle-like fungi (fungi that fruit hidden beneath the litter and soil) are constrained by the lives and travels of the truffle hunters themselves. There is a select breed of people who crawl around on the forest floor (exposing themselves to mud, snakes, slugs, ticks, and poison ivy) and claw through the soil in search of precious little "hypogeous nuggets." I want to clarify – these truffles are not the edible European Tuber species that fetch hundreds of euros per ounce at upscale Parisian markets (who wouldn't crawl around for that?!). I am talking CCC about the truffles that you couldn't pay most people to touch – like the Gautierias that often Figure 2. Morphological diversity of Thaxterogaster reek of rotten milk and the Hysterangiums that species from Chile. A. Brownish red species of Thaxterogaster (MES195). B. A lilac colored sometimes smell of swamp gas. An additional Thaxterogaster species (MES135) with soil and debris problem is the unfortunate possibility of sticking to the viscid cap. C. Thaxterogaster albocanus collecting a piece of discarded chewing gum Horak & Moser (MES195) arrayed on Nothofagus ("Gummyangium"), a little ball of pine pitch leaves. A and C were collected near Volcan Osorno ("Stickyfingerola"), or an animal scat whereas B was collected at the Río de las Minas near Punta Arenas. Photos by Matthew E. Smith. ("Poopiomyces"), instead of a new and interesting truffle! Thaxter found many interesting fungi on his trip to South America, but perhaps his The truffles that Thaxter often collected most interesting specimens were those of (and the ones that I am interested in) are a truffle-like fungi. He was the first to document diverse group of unrelated fungi that all share the high diversity and abundance of truffles in one morphological trait – they fruit below South America's Nothofagus forests. This ground. There are truffles and truffle-like fungi might seem surprising because Patagonia, with 3 its cool and moist were also described based on Thaxter’s climate, does not Chilean specimens (Halling, 1981; Dodge & appear to be a Zeller, 1934). Despite this flurry of published very hospitable truffle species, Thaxter collected several place for truffles. interesting hypogeous Pezizales (Ascomycota) However, most of that remain undescribed because the Chile is character- collections were either lost or were too meager ized by a for an accurate description (Pfister, 1984). "Mediterranean" climate with cool, Given Thaxter's interesting finds and moist winters and the dearth of information on Chile's hypogeous Figure 3. Gautieria chilensis hot, dry summers. fungi, it seems logical that more South Zeller & Dodge, one of two Mediterranean American truffle collecting is needed! Luckily, Gautieria species described from climates favor the in March of 2008 I had the opportunity to visit the Southern Hemisphere. This development of Chile and collect fungi with Prof. Donald H. collection (MES131) was found hypogeous Pfister (the current Farlow Herbarium curator in Punta Arenas. Photo by M.E.S. fruiting bodies and my cryptogamic hero) (Figures 4 and 5). and the majority of truffle species are known Don received a grant from the David from the world's other Mediterranean regions: Rockefeller Center For Latin American Studies 1) Mediterranean Europe and North Africa, 2) to revisit Thaxter’s collecting sites and retrieve California and the Pacific Northwest and 3) fascinating fungi for Harvard’s collection. Southeastern Australia. The other Mediterranean region, South Africa, lacks suitable ectomycorrhizal host plants and therefore appears depauperate in hypogeous fungi. Unfortunately, Thaxter did not have the chance to fully document all of his South American truffle discoveries. He scribbled basic notes about his specimens in the field, wrote about the most interesting finds in his diary, and then preserved his specimens in jars for the return voyage to the United States. He described several species of microfungi from his trip (Thaxter, 1910) but the rest of his dusty specimen jars were relegated to the Farlow basement for future generations of mycologists to examine. Rolf Singer, a prolific mushroom taxonomist who worked briefly at the Farlow Herbarium, later erected the genus Thaxterogaster (Figure 2) based partially on Thaxter's collections from Patagonia (Singer, Figure 4. The author, Matthew E. Smith, proudly displays a hefty collection of Bondarzewia 1951). Several other Thaxterogaster species guaitecasensis (Henn.) J.E. Wright that was growing and the first known Southern Hemisphere at the base of a Nothofagus tree on Volcan Osorno. species of Gautieria ( G. chilensis – Figure 3) Photo by Donald Pfister. 4 Although we planned to collect any interesting preserved. Most of this forest is in the Reserva fungi that presented themselves, Don and I Nacional Magallanes and is easily accessible were particularly interested in documenting the by car from Punta Arenas. To maximize the diversity of truffles and also of Pezizales diversity of our fungal discoveries, Prof. (including cup fungi, truffles, and others) in Pfister and I decided that we should collect in a the Nothofagus forests. We were especially completely different location during the second hopeful that we would rediscover some of week of our trip. Accordingly, after a week of Thaxter's undescribed truffle species. Fresh collecting near the Strait of Magellan we flew specimens would enable us to accurately 1300 kilometers to the north and sought fungi describe these new species and use genetic in Chile's "Lakes Region" at the edge of the data to determine their closest relatives on Parque Nacional Perez Rosales near Volcan other continents. Osorno (Figure 7). This strategy of collecting in two disparate locations worked out quite well because Punta Arenas and the Volcan Osorno area have very different climates – but both locations had a plethora of interesting fungi! Figure 5. Professor Donald H. Pfister examines specimens in the “mobile laboratory” at the Cabañas Del Lago in the small town of Ensenada, Chile. Photo by Matthew E. Smith. The first week of our trip was spent in the Nothofagus forests outside Punta Arenas, where Roland Thaxter spent more than two months of his expedition. Although the trees near town had been cut down before Thaxter’s Figure 6. A waterfall tumbles into the steep canyon arrival, relatively intact forests were accessible and joins the Río de las Minas near Punta Arenas, Chile. Roland Thaxter’s diary describes his collec- via a narrow gauge railroad that led to a nearby tions from this canyon bordered by Nothofagus for- coal mine along the Río de las Minas (Figure ests. Today the watershed is protected as part of the 6). The town of Punta Arenas depends on these Reserva Nacional Magallanes. The bent Nothofagus forested hills for a clean water supply, so the tree in the foreground is evidence of the strong entire Río de las Minas area has been winds that scour the area.