North American matsutake: names clarified and a new species described.

Tricholoma matsutake, known widely as "matsutake," has great commercial and cultural significance in Japan. Because Japanese production is insufficient to meet the high domestic demand, morphologically similar mushrooms, thought by many to belong to T. magnivelare, are imported from western North America.

Patterns of nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios in macrofungi, plants and soils in two old-growth conifer forests.

•  To further assess the usefulness of stable isotope ratios for understanding elemental cycling and fungal ecology, we measured δ N and δ C in ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic macrofungi, plants, woody debris and soils from two old-growth conifer forests in Olympic National Park, Washington, USA. •  Ecosystem isotope patterns were similar at the two forests, but differences existed that appear to reflect soil nitrogen availability and C allocation within the ectomycorrhizal symbioses. δ N and δ C of ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi differed in both forests, and a dual δ N/δ C plot provided the best means of distinguishing them.

Nitrogen and carbon stable isotope abundances support the myco-heterotrophic nature and host-specificity of certain achlorophyllous plants.

•  Over 400 species of achlorophyllous vascular plants are thought to obtain all C from symbiotic fungi. Consequently, they are termed 'myco-heterotrophic.' However, direct evidence of myco-heterotrophy in these plants is limited.