Ethnomycological survey of the Kalanguya indigenous community in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

We documented the indigenous beliefs and utilization of macrofungi by the Kalanguya tribe.To perform the ethnomycological survey of macrofungi utilized by the Kalanguya indigenous community in Sitio Binbin, Brgy.General Luna, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija, the community members and their chieftain were asked to answer survey questionnaires pertaining to their beliefs and knowledge on mushroom utilization, collection and cultivation.Then, collection of the utilized macrofungi were performed during the rainy season.Results showed that most of indigenous people knew about mushrooms, which they locally called as bagel and buo, and utilized for food.There were 36 species claimed by the community as edible, however, only 10 species were obtained during the collection.Based on molecular identification, five mushrooms were identified to species level, namely: Meripilus giganteus, Scleroderma citrinum, Leucoagaricus cepaestipes, Podocypha brasiliensis and Russula virescens, while one mushroom was identified to genus level (Microporus sp.).One interesting finding is that one species of mushroom is used as insect repellant, which is unique since most macrofungi are utilized either as food or medicine.The community does not have any indigenous beliefs when it comes to collection, cultivation as well as utilization.They merely collect the macrofungi from the mountain and utilized them for food or sell them in the market.