ABSTRACT
Mushrooms are so highly valued for their culinary and therapeutic effectivity; they are being considered as the ‘elixir of life’. Mushrooms are known as prominent food material and potent herbal medicines because of their higher nutritive value and the presence of important phytochemicals. Many tribes used these mushrooms as their main source of livelihood. Apart from its use as food material, mushroom also exhibits various pharmacological activities like antioxidants, anticancer, radical scavenging, diabetes, ageing, immunomodulating activity, etc. In the Himalayan Alpine region, many tribes used these mushrooms as traditional formulations such as Keeda jadi, Yarsa gumba, Yarsa gunbu, Keeda ghaas, etc. The Himalayan region is not only the reservoir of herbal medicine, rather this region is considered as the prominent hub for wild edible and medicinal mushrooms. States like Uttarakhand, Shimla as well as Jammu and Kashmir have the highest number of mushroom varieties due to suitable climate conditions, fertile land, and ectomycorrhizal relation with trees such as deodar, pine, blue pine, Himalayan yew, etc. There has been a huge diversification of mushroom varieties in the Himalayan region. North-western Himalayan regions such as Kangra, Kullu, Shimla, Solan, Gulmarg, Garhwal, and Kashmir as well as North-eastern Himalayan regions such as Siliguri, North 24 Parganas, Darjeeling, etc., possess various important mushrooms like Helvella atra, Morchella esculenta, Peziza badia Sepultaria arenosa, Leucopaxillus, Strobilomyces echinocephalus, Strobilomyces mollis Clitocybe dilatata, Clitocybe hydrogramma, Clitocybe nebularis, etc. These saprophytic fungi prefer to grow on soil covered with humus, decaying organic matter, and dead stumps of some plant species as well as in warm and humid weather conditions. As the system of crash crops is being introduced in hilly areas, the rate of deforestation is increasing and number of mushroom varieties goes on decreasing. To overcome this matter, special cultivation and harvesting of specific mushrooms is in dire need of time. In this chapter, information regarding the mushroom found in the Himalayan region as well as the climatic condition required for the growth and diversity of wild edible and medicinal mushrooms has been discussed.
