ABSTRACT
Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Sing. (common name: black forest mushroom; Chinese name: shiang-gu; Japanese name: shiitake) is the second most important edible mushroom in the world from the standpoint of production; and it is the most popular fungus cultivated in China, Japan, and other Asian countries. In 1997, the total production was estimated to be 1,322,000 metric tons (MT) in terms of fresh equivalent weight (Table 13.1), which was 25.4% of the total world production of edible mushrooms in that year. 3
