Which trees does Lanmaoa asiatica grow with?
It is ectomycorrhizal, meaning it lives in partnership with tree roots. Collections come mostly from forests of Yunnan pine (Pinus yunnanensis) and Benguet pine (Pinus kesiya), usually mixed with members of the oak family such as Quercus, Castanopsis and Lithocarpus. It does not grow on wood or in open ground.
Whether it prefers pine or oak as a partner is not settled. Fruiting bodies often appear where both are present, and root-tip sequencing studies of the genus are scarce. For field collectors the practical rule is simple: look in mixed pine–oak forest, not in pure plantations of exotic trees.
What altitudes and climate does it need?
In Yunnan most records fall between about 1,500 and 2,600 m, on the subtropical plateau with dry, mild winters and wet summers. Annual rainfall in these forests is roughly 900 to 1,200 mm, most of it between June and September. Fruiting needs several days of soaking rain followed by warm, humid weather.
- 1,500–2,600 mTypical altitude range in Yunnan
- Jun–SepMain fruiting months
- Pine + FagaceaeUsual forest composition
Where has it been recorded?
The core range is southwest China, especially Yunnan, where the species was described and where it is common in summer markets. Bluing red boletes matching it are also collected in neighbouring parts of Southeast Asia, including pine forests of the Philippine Cordillera. Published, sequence-backed records outside China are still limited.
Range statements for boletes change as herbarium collections are sequenced. A red bluing bolete from outside Yunnan should be treated as unconfirmed until its DNA has been compared with reference material. That is the rule we apply to our own Cordillera lots before they are sold under this name.
When does it fruit?
With the summer monsoon. In central Yunnan the first fruiting bodies usually appear in late June, the peak falls in July and August, and collections tail off through September. In the Philippine Cordillera the rains and the fruiting start a few weeks earlier, often in May.
Year-to-year variation is large. A late monsoon delays the first flush, and a dry spell in midsummer can stop fruiting for weeks. That is why our Fresh season has fixed ordering dates but flexible dispatch dates.
Does habitat affect the chemistry of a sample?
It can. Wild boletes take up elements from soil, and Yunnan lies within a mercury-rich geological belt. Studies of Yunnan Boletus species have found mercury and other elements at concentrations that vary strongly between sites. For analytical work, origin and collection site belong in your sample metadata.
The same applies, less dramatically, to organic constituents. Pigment content, moisture and sugar profiles shift with fruiting-body age and weather. Batching by origin and harvest date, and recording both on the certificate, is how we keep that variation visible rather than averaged away.
References
- Wu G. et al. (2016). One hundred noteworthy boletes from China. Fungal Diversity 81.
- Falandysz J. et al. (2015). Mercury in Boletus mushrooms from soils of the Circum-Pacific Mercuriferous Belt in southwestern China. PLoS ONE.