Mustafabeyli, Aghayev indd

Key Words: ecological groups, edible, fungi, macromy-

cetes, poisonous, species

INTRODUCTION

Information of the first mushroom records (Polyporus 

officinalis (Vill.) Fr., Tuber album Bull.,  Tuber 

melanosporum Vittad., Morchella esculenta (L.) Pers.) 

in Azerbaijan was mentioned in the medieval manu-

scripts [Alakbarli, 2006]. Based on available litera-

ture the first fungal collections were made by foreign 

botanists and mycologists who visited Azerbaijan 

[Georgi, 1800; Kolenati 1858; Voronov 1922-1923]. 

But the recorded and reported information on mush-

rooms is scanty, only few published works about fungi 

reached us [Aghayeva, 2018]. Significant contribution 

towards studying mushrooms belongs to A. Sadiqov, 

who launched first investigations on diversity since 60s 

of the last century.  In the result of this effort a wide 

range of mushrooms were investigated in the country 

[Opred…, 1985; Sadiqov, 1968, 1972, 2007; Sadiqov, 

Aghayeva, 2016]. Currently, about 2300 specimens of 

more than 800 mushroom taxa, much of which were 

collected by him, are stored in the Herbarium of the In-

stitute of Botany (BAK) of ANAS [Aghayeva, 2018]. 

The study of fungi of various regions is also carried 

out continuously in order to identify species diversity, 

as well as rare and endangered species of fungi of the 

country [Ağayeva, Sadıqov, 2009, 2014; Qənbərov və 

s., 2012; Sadiqov, 1968].

The Greater Caucasus is among the botanically most 

diverse regions worldwide. Shaki district is one of the 

largest regions of northwestern Azerbaijan, which is 

located along the southern Caucasus mountain range. 

The area is rich in coniferous and mixed deciduous for-

ests, and dominated by oak, beech, birch and hornbeam. 

The territory of the district can be divided into several 

climatic zones. Soils and climate are favorable for the 

growth of wide range of mushrooms. Plant diversity of 

the area is well studied, taking into account the number 

of herbarium samples kept in the BAK, but information 

on mushroom diversity is insufficient. 

Thus, the aim of present study was to investigate the 

diversity of mushrooms in Shaki district, determine the 

systematic composition considering the latest taxonom-

ic and nomenclatural changes, reveal ecological groups 

and distribution of mushrooms along elevation gradi-

ents, detect rare and endangered species in the country 

and identify the possibility of their use.