Q’oncha

Overview

Q’oncha is the Andean name for Gerhardtia cibaria, a wild gilled fungus of the family Lyophyllaceae. The species was described as Pleurocollybia cibaria. A 2017 molecular study in Cryptogamie, Mycologie moved it to Gerhardtia on the basis of ITS sequence data and microscopy, and the supplied record follows that combination. Older sources still use Pleurocollybia.

In the supplied record the mushroom is known in Cusco as qoncha or seta cusqueña.

Food and festival in Peru

A 2025 review, Los hongos comestibles en el Perú, published in Lilloa, lists edible and medicinal mushrooms as part of local cuisine and festivals. It documents 35 to 40 such species in Peru and names the Qoncha Raymi festival at Conchacalla, in Cusco, as a meeting point for that tradition. The review traces mushroom eating in Peru back to pre-Columbian evidence and sixteenth-century chronicles, and it ties mushrooms to Chavín, Moche and Paracas art and ritual.

The review’s text, as read for this page, names the festival rather than this species, so the species-level link comes from the supplied record.

Taxonomy

The name change rests on the 2017 study by Matheny and colleagues. Its reported sale in Peruvian markets places it in trade as well as in household use.

Ecology and supply

The supplied record places it in Andean habitats and records its supply as wild. No cultivation is recorded.

Edibility and safety

The Lilloa review describes the Peruvian species as edible and medicinal, and it gives no toxicity warnings or identification detail for this species. It advises consulting specialist sources before collecting.

Gather or eat no wild fungus on the strength of a catalogue listing, a description or a photograph. Identification needs a qualified expert, and the sources read here do not establish a safe preparation.