Caojizong

Overview

Caojizong is the common name of Amanita caojizong, a mushroom of the large genus Amanita. In Chinese markets it is among the wild fungi sold fresh from the forests of Yunnan. The name is a local name, and the species carries an English common name, Chiu's false death cap, that reflects its resemblance to the deadly species of the genus.

The catalogue lists the caojizong record as a food, market and specialist edible-fungi record from China, and a recent Chinese catalogue includes it.

Names and taxonomy

The species was described under an older name, Amanita manginiana sensu W.F. Chiu. The current name, Amanita caojizong, was given in a 2018 revision by Cui and colleagues, according to the Wikipedia entry. The catalogue treats the name as a research name and does not validate it against current taxonomy, so the identity should be checked against the primary taxonomic work before use in a record of a specific specimen.

Market and use in Pu'er

Pu'er is one of the great wild-mushroom regions of China. The ethnomycological survey of the prefecture recorded 283 species, varieties and undescribed taxa, most of them ectomycorrhizal. Vendors in Pu'er markets and collectors in the forest supplied the information on which the record of caojizong rests.

The survey lists caojizong as edible. Local cooks prepare it in several ways, but the sources reviewed do not give the methods, quantities or dishes. The survey also notes that large-scale commercial harvesting has been followed by declining mushroom production in parts of the prefecture.

Look-alikes and the market risk

Amanita contains some of the most dangerous mushrooms in the world, and caojizong is visually similar to species that are poisonous. The Wikipedia entry reports that a poisonous species, Amanita pseudoporphyria, is sold in Yunnan free markets mixed with caojizong, and that a 2000 case of delayed kidney injury followed eating the poisonous species.

Because of this, the Wikipedia entry advises against eating caojizong without expert identification, and that advice matches the warning in the catalogue: the genus contains deadly species, and inclusion in a catalogue must never be used to identify a specimen for eating.

Safety

This page is not an identification guide and gives no edibility verdict for any specimen. Mushrooms of this genus should not be gathered or eaten on the strength of a market, a catalogue or a page like this one. Market sellers are not a safety control, and mixed markets have sold poisonous species beside edible ones.

Any person who has eaten an Amanita and feels unwell should seek urgent medical care, and should keep a sample for identification.

Open points

The sources reviewed give no preparation, no quantity, and no ecological detail beyond the statement that the species is ectomycorrhizal and that its forest tree partner needs species-level checking. The full survey tables should be checked before the record is extended.