Calocybe indica was formally described in 1974, from material collected in Calcutta. The authors—botanists R.P. Purkayastha and Aindrila Chandra—had noted it to be a popular mushroom in markets in West Bengal. They placed it in the section Calocybe of the genus Calocybe, noting that it appeared closely related to and was similar morphologically to Calocybe gambosa, from which it differed by having slightly larger oval spores, and a stouter mushroom. Botanist A. S. Krishnamoorthy found it growing in Tamil Nadu in the mid 1990s, and its commercial production was overhauled and improved.
Description
The robust mushroom is all-white in colour and has a firm consistency. Its cap is across, convex initially before flattening out with age. The cuticle can be easily peeled off the cap. The crowded gills are white but gradually developes into brown with the age, and the cylindrical stem is high with no ring nor volva. It has a subbulbous base, being wide at the apex, in the middle and wide at the base. The mushroom does not change colour on cutting or bruising, though old dried specimens have a buff colour. The flesh has a mild flavour that has been described as oily, and a faint smell reminiscent of radishes it tastes like an unripened coconut that which we can eat it without any cooking. The spore print is white, and the oval spores measure 5.9–6.8 μm long by 4.2–5.1 μm wide.
Distribution, habitat and ecology
C. indica grows in grasslands, fields and road verges in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, generally on substrate rich in organic material. The mushrooms appear between May and August after spells of rainfall. The fungus is saprophytic, though it has been reported to form extomycorrhizal relationships with the roots of the coconut tree, palmyra palm, tamarind and yellow poincinana.
Cultivation
C. indica is cultivated commercially in southern India and becoming more popular in China, Malaysia, and Singapore; it can be grown in hot humid countries with a temperature range of 25 to 35 °C year-round, It undergoes the two phases dark phase and the light phase where in dark phase the mycelium development will takes place and in the light phase the pin heads start growing. The entire process will take 45 days to get the complete milkywhite mushroom.
