Surveillance of wild edible mushrooms at Megamalai hills in southern western Ghats

Megamalai hills in Southern Western Ghats of India have an unestimated wealth of mushrooms biodiversity that need to be tapped. The Megamalai hill forest was surveyed for occurrence of wild edible fungi. Studies were carried out two consequent years and it is done in all seasons. A total of 60 species of mushroom were collected, recorded, photographed and preserved. Most of the samplings were done in Megamalai reserved forest and the dense biomass favours variety of edible and medicinal mushrooms. Some of the species identified are Lymnophilus, Auricularia, Agaricus, Tricholoma, Pleurotus. These studies give significance in molecular diversity of wild edible mushrooms and its conservation from Megamalai hills.