Conspectus of traditional ethnomycological insights pertaining to wild mushrooms of South Kashmir, India

Background: Mushrooms have been in use as food and ethnomedicines since ancient times. Ethnomycological information has been drawn from aboriginal and common masses in different regions of the world including India. However, no such ethnomycological survey has been conducted in the present study area. Therefore, present study was carried out to draw the ethnomycological knowledge about the usage of mushrooms for various purposes held by local populace and to evaluate this drawn knowledge for various ethnomycological parameters. Methods: Different areas of South Kashmir were surveyed to document this declining traditional knowledge source. A total of 200 respondents including traditional healers (hakims), mushroom hunters, tribals and local people encompassing all the age groups were interviewed. Ethnomycological data sets were evaluated for various parameters and were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: A total of 32 species were found to be used as food and ethnomedicines against diabetes, cardiovascular complications, respiratory problems, skin disorders, etc. It was also revealed that the ethnomycological information is equally distributed across the gender, however maximum ethnomycological information was found to be held by the elder age group. Conclusions: Ethnomedicinal uses of 32 mushroom species were documented which need further exploration for other properties that could be used for human welfare on robust scale. The knowledge compiled during the study can be passed on to young generations of the local inhabitants and forest dwellers and could serve to acquaint them about this declining traditional knowledge source.