MACROFUNGI FLORA OF ARASBARAN 1. CORTINARIUS SUBGENUS MYXACIUM

Due to the importance of the Arasbaran forest (E. Azarbaijan, N.W. Iran) as a biosphere preserve and having a rich flora and fauna, macrofungi flora of Arasbaran region, were studied from 2003. This is the first in a series of publications on floristic studies of macrofungi of Arasbaran forests. In this paper, species of the genus Cortinarius, subgenus Myxacium are studied.The genus Cortinarius Fr. is largest genus of gilled basidiomycete fungi. There are about 2000 species epithets for this genus in the world. The following characters delimit Cortinarius taxa: (i) a rusty brown to ochraceous spore print, (ii) spores lacking a germ pore and (iii) a cortinate veil. Cortinarius spp. form ectomycorrhizal associations with plants and also some species have been considered as poisonous mushrooms.