Amanita annulatovaginata
A wild ectomycorrhizal Amanita of the Congo rainforest, recorded as locally consumed in Tshopo province. Its preparation was not established, and the genus includes deadly species.
Mushrooms
Marasmius arborescens
Marasmius arborescens is a forest saprotroph recorded as eaten by people in Tshopo province, DR Congo, in voucher-backed interviews; the species-specific preparation and safety are not established.
Overview
Marasmius arborescens is a small, delicate mushroom of the genus Marasmius, a group of forest fungi that live on dead leaves, wood and litter. The catalogue records it as a forest saprotroph, a fungus that feeds on dead plant matter, and lists it with a wild, forest context.
Food use in Tshopo
The catalogue records that the species is locally consumed in Tshopo province, DR Congo, according to voucher-backed interviews. A voucher specimen is a preserved sample that ties an interview record to a species name, so the record is stronger than a simple report of local names.
The record does not establish how the mushroom is prepared, how much is eaten, or what it is eaten with. The catalogue states that species-specific preparation was not established in its source.
Related Congolese Marasmius
Related Marasmius species are better documented as food in the Congo Basin. A field poster from northern Republic of the Congo lists Marasmius buzungolo among edible mushrooms gathered in the region, and Tshopo ethnomycology names it among the species most appreciated for food. Those records concern M. buzungolo, not M. arborescens, and they should not be carried over to this species.
Sources for this section
Safety
The catalogue describes its food-use record as ethnomycological, not as a toxicological assessment. A species account in the Fungus Flora of Tropical Africa reports that Heim (1948) obtained a positive Guignard test for hydrocyanic acid in specimens identified as M. arborescens. This historical qualitative result gives no concentration, dose, preparation effect or household safety assessment, so this page does not recommend eating the species.
Do not use this record as a field-identification or preparation guide. Wild mushrooms can be confused with one another, and this page does not establish a safe identification or safe preparation.
Open points
The sources reviewed describe the mushroom but do not establish species-specific preparation, a seasonal pattern, or what the reported hydrocyanic-acid test means for exposure or food safety. The full Tshopo interview tables, voucher records and a qualified assessment of the historical test would be needed to extend this page.
Places
Tshopo province, DR Congo
Documented use · Region evidenceThe catalogue records one region; the record does not say the species is eaten elsewhere in Central Africa.
Related
More from Tshopo
Amanita echinulata
A wild ectomycorrhizal Amanita of the Congo rainforest, recorded as locally consumed in Tshopo province. Its preparation was not established, and the genus includes deadly species.
Amanita robusta
Amanita robusta Beeli is a poorly documented Central African Amanita known from voucher-backed rainforest collections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. A Tshopo study reports local food use for a taxonomically supported voucher, but neither that record nor the name makes an unknown Amanita safe to identify or eat.
Armillaria heimii
Armillaria heimii is a saprotrophic fungus of the honey-fungus genus, recorded as a wild food in Tshopo province, DR Congo. Its preparation and safety are not established in the sources.
Calyptella longipes
Calyptella longipes is a wood and litter decaying fungus of the rainforests of Tshopo province, DR Congo, where some ethnic groups in voucher-backed interviews eat it. Its preparation was not recorded.
Cantharellus congolensis
Cantharellus congolensis is an ectomycorrhizal chanterelle of sub-Saharan Africa, eaten in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under local names. Its edibility rests on food-use surveys, not on toxicity tests.
Cantharellus floridulus
Cantharellus floridulus is an ectomycorrhizal rainforest fungus that informants in Tshopo province, DR Congo, eat in voucher-backed interviews. Its preparation is not recorded, and the source gives no toxicity statement.
Cookeina speciosa
A forest cup fungus of the Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, recorded in local interviews as eaten. The species-level preparation is not established.
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Sources
PubMed Central (NCBI)Food use · Ecology · Identity
Wild edible ectomycorrhizal fungi: an underutilized food resource from the rainforests of Tshopo province (Democratic Republic of the Congo)Supplied catalogue source for the Tshopo interview record of Marasmius arborescens. The article page returned a verification page on retrieval for this revision, so its wording is taken from the catalogue record.
Cited in: Overview; Food use in Tshopo; Safety; Open points
Rufford FoundationFood use · Context
Edible fungi of northern Republic of the Congo (Rufford Foundation project poster)Lists Marasmius buzungolo among the edible mushrooms gathered in the region under local names; this is a related Marasmius, not Marasmius arborescens.
Read from the search summary.
Cited in: Related Congolese Marasmius
Meise Botanic GardenIdentity · Morphology · Safety
Fungus Flora of Tropical Africa: Marasmius arborescensSpecies account summarizes the small, densely clustered fruitbodies and variable white-to-orange caps with orange-brown centres.
It cites Heim (1948) as reporting a positive Guignard test for hydrocyanic acid in specimens identified as Marasmius arborescens; the account supplies no concentration, dietary dose, or preparation effect.
The account says the species' food-use record is from an older personal communication; this is not a toxicological assessment.
Cited in: Overview; Safety; Open points