text:
Talk:Local Government Commission for England (1992)

Suffolk
I have a leaflet which i picked up in Suffolk 10 or more years ago. Entitled "Suffolk Works, why change it?" and printed by Suffolk County Council. Apparently the Commission had presented two options and was sending a leaflet to residents. The options being to divide the county into four, or retain the status quo. The four were Ipswich (same as the borough), East suffolk, West Suffolk and "Yartoft" which was a merger of Waveney and Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Not sure which districts were in East and west, but there's a map. I don't see it in the article? Lozleader 21:54, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Yeah - that would be the draft recommendations. I'll add those to article in a bit - working on the final ones atm.  Morwen - Talk 21:59, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Ok, there's a particularly confused article in the Guardian on July 15, 1994, that states the commission treated Norfolk and Suffolk as a unit, and recommended

 * Ipswich
 * Norwich
 * West Norfolk (Kings Lynn)
 * North East Norfolk (Broads)
 * Breckland and South Norfolk
 * Waveney and Great Yarmouth
 * West Suffolk
 * East Suffolk

as draft recommendations. because of the local reaction the ultimate recommendations in the district were status quo. Ipswich and Norwich must have been annoyed. getting the full list of draft recommendations out is a bit trickier because they weren't published in batches. Morwen - Talk 23:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Phear my references section
! Morwen - Talk 07:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

 * The experience in West Sussex
 * The Oxfordshire Story
 *

Name
Any ideas for a name for a split of the English section out into its own article? Banham Commission won't work because of Cooksey, I don't like the idea of tacking it to Local Government Act 1992, and the Local Government Commission for England did do other stuff as well (electoral reviews, and the review of Sefton spring to mind). Morwen - Talk 11:03, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Cambridgeshire
Preferred draft recommendations for Cambs were

A. The City & County of Cambridge (Cambridge/South Cambridgeshire/East Cambridgeshire) B. Huntingdonshire (Huntingdonshire Council) C. Peterborough & the Fens (Peterborough and Fenland)

it offered as other options

A. The City & County of Cambridgeshire (as above) B. Peterborough and Huntingdonshire (Huntingdonshire/Peterborough/Fenland)

A. The City and County of Cambridgeshire (Cambridge/South Cambridgeshire) B. The Fens (or Isle of Ely) (Fenland/East Cambridgeshire) C. Huntingdonshire D. Peterborough

it did not propose a Huntingdonshire ceremonial county or an inclusion of Peterborough in Northamptonshire ceremonial county.

There was a recommendation, agreed by the Peterborough and Hunts councils to move the Southern Township to Peterborough (parts of Alwalton and Yaxley parishes), and "that part of Farcet village currently in Peterborough should be transferred to Huntingdonshire"

"there is some difference in the structural preferences of residents in different parts of Huntingdonshire. There is very strong support in North Huntingdonshire (77 per cent), and to a lesser extent in the Huntingdon area itself (58 per cent).  By contrast, more residents in St Neots supported options which did not include a unitary Huntingdonshire than supported those options which did (53% to 46%).  In South Huntingdonshire the equivilant figures were 51% to 48%"

Huntingdonshire District Council wanted unitary Huntingdonshire (natch). Oddly Cambridgeshire County Council had the two-unitary option above the status quo.

It notes "strong reservations have been expressed by the county counciy, by a number of the statutory consultees and by some local opinion in Huntingdonshire about the ability [...]"

Final recommendation: no change in local government.

Ceremonial issues: "126. The Commission recognised that the strongly held loyalties that many people have for the county. The Commission's draft recommendation therefore was that the existing county of Cambridgeshire should be retained for ceremonial and related purposes.

127. There has been some local debate, during the review, about the issue of Huntingdonshire once again becoming a ceremonial county. However, this proposition is not supported by Huntingdonshire District Council and does not seem to be specifically supported in views expressed to the Commission by local residents in Huntingdonshire (leaving aside their support for a unitary Huntingdonshire)"

Also notes there is a case for a boundary revision of Cambridge, and recommends a swap between Hunts and Peterborough.

community identity table : mori poll conducted May/July 1993

"how strongly do you feel you belong to each of the following areas?"

Cherry picking

 * 3.1 Basildon/Thurrock

It was proposed to remove Billericay and Wickford from Basildon. Basildon DC wanted a unitary for the new town in the south of the district only. Brentwood was ok with taking Brentwood, but Rochford didn't want to annex Wickford against its wishes. it recommended a "Brentwood and Billericay District Council" (Billericay East West and Burstead wards) and a "Rochford and Wickford District Council" (Wickford North and South wards). it recommended a two-tier Billericay District Council, with a population of 105,000. it notes Castle Point would have been left in odd situation.

 * 3.2 Blackpool and Blackburn

"Commission accepts that the existing boundary [of Blackpool] is not ideal". it has a histogram showing people near Blackpool don't like it.

MORI Blackpool 59%

MORI Blackburn 39%/32%

 * 3.3 Nottingham fringe

Broxtowe BC wanted no change. Gedling BC didn't especially want change. Rushcliffe BC wanted unitary status. No overwhelmingly popular support: MORI polling shows 60%/27% in Broxtowe, 48%/40% in Gedling, 45%/39% in Rushcliffe. Ken Clarke and Andrew Mitchell supported unitaries for all three, and Jim Lester supported unitary Broxtowe.

"a merger of any or all of the three districts is not considered viable [...] was not put forward by any representative group". Vaguely hints that amalgamation with Nottingham would be more sensible but doesn't actually say this. Recommends no change.

 * 3.4 Dartford and Gravesham

It suggested in the draft recommendations that "the proposition of a unitary authority for Dartford and Gravesham should once again be tested". Notes Thames Gateway strategy.

Kent County Council opposed (natch). Dartford wanted to be unitary on its own. Gravesham didn't want unitary. MORI poll shows 35%/13% support in the boroughs compared to 56%/71% no change. it notes "a boundary change between Dartford and Gravesham, to encompass the Ebbsfleet development site in one authority, might have resolved some of the problems but was not explored in any depth during this review."

recommends no change but "is troubled by the County Council's instistence upon the lack of distinctiveness between north Kent and the remainder of the county"

 * Gillingham and Rochester

Draft recommendation was for a single unitary authority of the Medway Towns. Rochester City Council wanted the change. Gillingham Borough Council didn't. Notes it has a "the case for a merged authority has a long pedigree". Notes that the "poor relationships between the two-existing councils" makes a good case for a single council.

 * 3.5 Exeter

Draft recommendations was no change. "only marginally viable for unitary status". Exeter City Council supported, Devon County Council didn't. Plymouth and Torbay did. MORI showed 53% in favour vs 32% against in Exeter. rejects laregely due to size.

 * 3.6 Gloucester

Draft recommendations no change.

"the proximity of Gloucester and Cheltenham necessitated unified oversight". City Council wanted it, County Council didn't. Seems to think it is smallish but not too small, but the Cheltenham thing seems to be the killer

 * 3.7 Halton and Warrington

Draft recommendation Halton unitary.

supported by Halton BC, opposed by Cheshire CC.

MORI 39%/34%.

"strong support for a unitary authority in Halton from businesses and business groups within the borough". "case is not overwhemling", but decides to recommend unitary.

Draft recommendation Warrington unitary

"the County Council sees Warrington as central to Cheshire". interstingly there was a Ship Canal split, with north of the Ship Canal supporting change, and south of the Ship Canal supporting no change.

Recommends unitary.

 * 3.8 Huntingdonshire and Peterborough

Hunts Draft recommendation no change.

"In its report, the Commission considered that there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been percieved in Rutland and Herefordshire." "questions about the authority's resourcecapacity and difficulty in discerning any clear advantage of the unitary proposal against the two-tier arrangement, when the consequences for Cambridgeshire were takne into account". Notes concern for Fenland in rump Cambs.

"Huntingdonshire District Council considers that it should be granted unitary status because of its history as a county, noting recent expressions of spontaneous support. [...] Furthermore, the Council feels that it has an affinity with the East Midlands, unlike the rest of the county"

81% of representations from Huntingdonshire wanted status quo, vs 13% unitary. Mori polling showed 47% unitary, 40% no change. decides against a unitary Hunts.

Peterborough draft recommendation unitary

MORI 40%/40%. Recommends unitary finally : large size & Cambs remains viable. Some concerns about Fenland.

 * 3.9 Northampton

Draft recommendations Northampton unitary. "it had many of the hallmarks for unitary status. It is large and growing and there are strongly expressed affinities to the town, although not to the area of the Borough Council. [...] There are other urban centres in Northamptonshire, and the remaining county council would be capable..." "despite the potential strengths of the case for unitary status for Northampton, the arguments for no change had widespread local currency"

Northamptonshire County Council opposed change very strongly. Northampton Borough Council wanted unitary status, and noted that "local opinion had been influenced by the publicity campaigns of the County Council". NBC noted "a town the size of Northampton would be an unacceptable anomaly in English local government, were it to fail to achieve unitary status".

MORI showed in Northampton 44% no change, 28% unitary, 20% not sure. William Powell, Tony Marlow, Michale Morriss all supported unitary Northampton. Peter Fry opposed. Tim Boswell sat on fence conditionally. "The Commission is persuaded that, as with Exeter and Gloucester, the separation of Northampton from its county would have a significant and detrimental effect". It declares Northampton does not achieve a "regional role" as well and this is a reason.

 * 3.10 Norwich

Draft recommendations no change.

Notes "displays a complex interplay of arguments to an exceptional degree". "issues arising from Norwich's restrictive boundary, with 60,000 people living within the built-up area but outside the city boundary led the Commission to its draft recommendation for no change".

Norfolk County Council wanted no change. Norwich City Council wa wanted unitary status, and "that the Secretary of State instigate a boundary review at the earliest possible time".

MORI in Norwich: 43% unitary, 45% unitary.

"the case for unitary status has been articulated through wide-spread publicity [...] Despite this an even balance of opinion of residents of Norwich exists as between change on the existing boundary and no change." Recommends no change in end.

 * 3.11 Spelthorne

draft recommendation no change

"made up of small communities lacking a strong centre". notes Middlesex, the Thames, and its position between Berkshire and Greater London unitaries. would be a "relatively small" unitary. Surrey County Council didn't want change. Spelthorne Borugh Council did. "in many respects it sees the borough as having strong parallels with Thurrock". Also issues with Heathrow. MORI showed 46% in favour of unitary, 41% no change. David Wiltshire strongly supported unitary status.

"3.11.12 The issue of community identity has been particularly relevant to the Spelthorne debate. Affinity with Surrey has been questioned by supporters of a unitary authority.  However, the desire to be in Middlesex appears to be waning and a similar proportion now identify with Surrey. [...]"

"clearly does not regard itself as more of London than of its own county", "quite typical of district councils within the two-tier structure in south-east England".

recommends against because of "conerns about the internal coherence of the area", and also on its smallness

 * 3.12 Wrekin

draft recommendations unitary.

notes Shropshire "would become the smallest two-tier English county".

Shropshire CC opposed, Wrekin DC supported.

Commission: "case for the Wrekin to achieve unitary status in terms of its size, location, history and character is strong". Notes that Shropshire CC will not be much smaller than it had been before Telford New Tow, and of similar size to East Riding, Herefordshire and North Lincs which will be ok as education authorities.

also made various random consequential proposals, and warding.

5.5.1/5.1.2 notes that there has been "no representations on this issue during Stage Three consultations" regarding the retention of Halton and Warrington in Cheshire for ceremonial purposes.

5.7 considers boundary changes between Runnymede and Spelthorne based on the course of the River Thames: "former islands in the river are now attached to the 'wrong' bank." it recommends these. the offending areas are Church Island (to Runnymede), south of Penton Hook Island (to Runnymede), Chertsey Lock (to Spelthorne), Chetsey Meads (to Runnymede). these aren't terribly large changes but do affect 26.8 ha and 130 people. did this happen?

Membership
Cooksey Commission was ->

 * Sir David Cooksey (chairman)
 * Professor Malcom Grant (deputy chairman)
 * Peter Brokenshire
 * Professor Michael Clarke
 * Ken Ennals CB
 * Bob Scruton (Kent parish councillor, recused on Kent)
 * Helena Shovelton
 * David Thomas
 * Norman Warner

 * Dr Bob Chilton (Chief Executive)

Banham Commission was ->

 * Sir John Banham
 * David Ansbro
 * Professor Michael Chilsholm
 * Christopher Chope OBE
 * Sir Kenneth Couzens KCB
 * Kenneth Ennals CB
 * Profess Michael Grant
 * Brian Hill CBE DL
 * Miss Mary Leigh
 * Mrs Ann Levick
 * Robert Scruton
 * David Thomas
 * Lady Judith Wilcox
 * Clive Wilkinson

 * Martin Eastel (Chief Executive)

Criticism
Pondering a political opinions/evaluation section. It's a bit too soon for there to be much literature about this : it would be good to see what we can find, though. There's current political opinion on the process: David Miliband cited it as an example of something he'd like to avoid. There was a lot of party political criticism at the time as well, but this tended to be mainly concerned with specific issues rather than the entire farce of it.

On the other hand, the mere sequence of events and the court cases perfectly well demonstrates how bizarre and fickle both the commission and the government were, so do we need more? Morwen - Talk 21:03, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

 * As an example of this, the original plan for Derbyshire was accused of being gerry-mandering as it removed Chesterfield&Derby and would have left the county tory-controlled (Border-rigging charge as Tories redraw county, The Guardian, 7 November, 1993) But then the re-review of Derbyshire to create wholly unitary authorities was criticised on precisely the same grounds!  The inclusion of Derbyshire in the first tranche was particularly odd : it otherwise consists of Cleveland, Avon, Humberside and their neighbours, and the Isle of Wight.  Morwen - Talk 21:32, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Atkinson, H. & Wilks-Heeg, S., Local Government from Thatcher to Blair: The Politics of Creative Autonomy, (2000) has a lengthy critique of the review (p.111-116). They note:

 * The review was constructed as a distraction from the poll tax
 * The review was controversial
 * Words used to describe it: 'inept', 'fiasco', 'shambolic'
 * Recommendations were not in line with expectations e.g. only 7 of 39 county councils were to be abolished and unitary authorities were created in a system dominated by a two-tier structure
 * Banham used public opinion far too much as a barometer. e.g. Unitary Durham was unpopular so not recommended
 * The review was dominated by established interests
 * The approach was inconsistent between tranches
 * Conservative MPs objected to unitary Somerset and Gummer rejected it on this basis
 * Commentators considered many of the unitary districts to be under-bounded
 * The government was too directly involved with every stage of the process
 * There were policy shifts during the reviews.

 * The text points to Leach, S. & Stoker, G., Understanding the local government review: a retrospective analysis, (1997). This may be worth getting a copy of. MRSC 10:36, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Would you mind adding a few points from this to cover questions raised at Featured article candidates/Local Government Commission for England (1992)? (although I'd be wary at outright saying that it was shambolic or a distraction ourselves : that wants attributing in text not just as references) Morwen - Talk 17:19, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Yes. Atkinson & Wilks-Heeg were also wary of saying those things outright and directly attibute them to Leach & Stoker. It is possible I might be able to get a copy of this, possibly on Wednesday. I want to know what else they had to say. MRSC 19:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Dorset
July 8, 1994, The Times Residents to get choice of county says the LGCE proposed a postal referendum for Bournemouth and Christchurch to see if they want to return to Hampshire. this doesn't appear to have been in the final proposals, which will however explain why. it notes the change would be ceremonial only, and Dorset police etc would continue to serve the area. Preferred option was Poole, Bournemouth/Christchurch, rural Dorset. Morwen - Talk 21:03, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Cleveland
The paragraph claiming that Cleveland was somehow different to Humberside and Avon seems contentious, pov and not to be properly referenced. It makes claims that are surely inappropriate to an article of this nature and should be deleted completely. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jcb336 (talk • contribs) 14:26, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Unreferenced information and a proposed FAR
I am a little concerned that this article continues to be listed as an FA, given that it contains many sentences, and indeed at least one whole paragraph, which unfortunately lack any form of referencing. It is perhaps noteworthy that the article was promoted to FA status back in November 2006, given that today our FAC procedure is far more vigorous and exacting; as it stands, I doubt that it would be awarded GA status today, let alone FA status, even though much of it is well written and a lot of effort has clearly gone into authoring it. I would propose that unless this issue can be adequately dealt with soon, then this article should be sent to FAR and face the prospect of being de-listed. FA status is for our very best articles, and in its current status, this article simply isn't one of them. Midnightblueowl (talk) 20:19, 1 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Any opinions ? Morwen perhaps would be interested, given that she brought this page to FA status to start with ? Midnightblueowl (talk) 23:19, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Everything in here comes from one of the cited sources. It might be the standard for how close the little numbers should be to the text has been made stricter?  Morwen (talk) 16:37, 24 January 2015 (UTC)
 * thanks for your response. The main problem here is that there are sections where the citation is not clear. In most places this is fairly minor; in the "Establishment" section we have a few sentences without citation, such as "The abolition of metropolitan county councils in 1986 left the metropolitan boroughs operating as unitary authorities". Each and every one of those statements needs to have a citation after it. More problematic is the "Other changes" section, where large portions of text have no citations. I'd rather not see this article de-listed, so if you could potentially add the necessary citations in the correct places then that would be fantastic. If not, I feel that this will probably have to go to FAR; bear in mind that under our current policies, an article won't even receive its GA status if it has unreferenced sentences like this in the body of the text. Best for now, Midnightblueowl (talk) 15:55, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Most of the things cited are in storage and/or the British Library, and I have little inclination to drag them out (and rejoin the library) just to tidy up the referencing slightly. Morwen (talk) 19:10, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I understand (and don't blame you!) but that does mean that I will have to send this article to FAR. Sorry about that! Midnightblueowl (talk) 22:46, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Stoke and Swindon
I don't know the full history, but the legislation seems to suggest that Stoke and Swindon became unitary authorities in 1997, not 1998. Yamor2 (talk) 09:17, 7 June 2015 (UTC)


text:
Fuqing

 (Foochow Romanized: Hók-chiăng; also romanized as Hokchia) is a county-level city of Fujian Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou.

Geography
Fuqing is located on the north-central section of the coast of Fujian, south of the urban area of Fuzhou and north of Putian. It is the southernmost administrative division of Fuzhou on the mainland and is the only county-level city under the administration of Fuzhou. To the northwest of Fuqing lies Yongtai County, on its northern border is Minhou County, and to its northeast is the district of Changle. The entire southwestern land border is shared with Hanjiang, Putian. The territory of Fuqing also includes over 100 islands, and is connected by road to the major islands of Pingtan County.

The highest point of Fuqing is Guya Peak, which is situated on its border with Minhou County to the north, and has a height of 1003 m above sea level. The northern part of the county-level city is situated in the valley of the Long River, which includes the city's central urban area.

Fuqing has a long indented coastline on the Taiwan Strait, mostly consisting of rocky shores. A prominent part of its territory is the Longgao Peninsula, named for two of its major towns, Longtian and Gaoshan. This peninsula also forms two major bays: Fuqing Bay  to its north, and Xinghua Bay  to its south. The jagged coastline has given rise to a multitude of harbors and ports, including Haikou, situated at the mouth of the Lóng.

Administrative divisions
Subdistricts:

 * Yuping Subdistrict (玉屏街道) - city center, and location of the city government
 * Longshan Subdistrict (龙山街道)
 * Longjiang Subdistrict (龙江街道)
 * Yinxi Subdistrict (音西街道) - western part of the main urban area
 * Honglu Subdistrict (宏路街道)
 * Shizhu Subdistrict (石竹街道)
 * Yangxia Subdistrict (阳下街道)

Towns:

 * Haikou (海口镇),
 * Chengtou (城头镇),
 * Nanling (南岭镇),
 * Longtian (龙田镇),
 * Jiangjing (江镜镇),
 * Gangtou (港头镇),
 * Gaoshan (高山镇),
 * Shabu (沙埔镇),
 * Sanshan (三山镇),
 * Donghan (东瀚镇),
 * Yuxi (Yuki) (渔溪镇),
 * Shangjing, Fuqing (上迳镇),
 * Xincuo (新厝镇),
 * Jiangyin (江阴镇),
 * Dongzhang (东张镇),
 * Jingyang (镜洋镇),
 * Yidu (一都镇)

Economy
As of 2022, Fuqing's Nominal GDP was US$24.6 billion (CN¥160 billion), ranked 4th among county-level administrative units in Fujian province; its Nominal GDP per capita was US$17,702 (CN¥115,067).

Industries that contribute to GDP for 2017:

Total GDP:

Overseas Fuqing
Fuqing, as well as most of the rest of Fujian, is known for its large number of emigrants, or huaqiao. The first wave of emigration started in late 19th century; most common destinations during that time were Indonesia, Singapore, and East Malaysia. Some became among the richest men in Southeast Asia, e.g. Sudono Salim (Salim Group), Hendra Rahardja, Rachman Halim (Gudang Garam), Henry Kwee Hian Liong (Pontiac Land Group).

Overseas Fuqingese assembled into associations for mutual support, including the International Association of Fuqing, Perkumpulan Fuqing (Indonesia), and Singapore Futsing Association.

Local dialect
Fuqing has its own dialect (, Bàng-uâ-cê: Hók-chiăng-uâ, IPA in the local dialect: //), classified as part of the Houguan branch of Eastern Min. It is closely related to the Fuzhou dialect, and the two are mutually intelligible to quite a high extent, although not completely. Due to the hilly terrain and the isolation between villages, there is a large amount of dialectal variation. Songs sung in Fuqing dialect are available online.

Most of its people can also speak Mandarin, which is used in schools, businesses, and to communicate with people from different parts of the province.

There are also scattered villages that speak predominantly Southern Min varieties, with their populations coming from the Jinjiang, Zhangpu and Hui'an, among other areas of southern Fujian. However, their dialects have diverged significantly from the mainstream Hokkien varieties, such as in the use of // as a phoneme, and the use of vocabulary items closer to that of the Eastern Min varieties, such as (BUC: cóng, IPA: //) instead of  (POJ: súi) for "beautiful, good-looking".

In addition, there are villages that speak a form of Putian dialect, mostly near the border with Putian, with the distinctive use of // instead of // or // more common in the Fuqing dialect.

Regional foods
Fuqing is located in the coastal hills, subtropical climate, warm and rainy, but the river is short and shallow. Rich in species while not rich in harvest. Therefore, the important staple food in Fuqing is sweet potato. Non-staple food is dominated by various marine food. Many traditional snacks are made from sweet potato and seafood. Guangbing (光饼): Guangbing is a bread product that is baked and shaped like a sesame-seeded burger bun top. In 1562, the Japanese invaded Fujian province. General Qi Jiguang was charged to drive the invaders out of Fujian. In order not to let the meal time slow down their marching speed, General Qi invented a kind of bread which was shaped into a ring at that time, so his soldiers could wear a string of those breads around their neck. After the victory, the recipe of this bread product was spread throughout the province and named Guangbing after General Qi. Nowadays, there is no longer a hole in the center of a Guangbing, and there are various kinds of Guangbing developed in different areas in Fujian province, which don’t look the same. Fuqing Guangbing is made of the flour, sugar and salt which are all locally produced, as well as the excellent Fuqing sesame seeds, which are very big and taste better than ordinary small sesame seeds. Guangbing was handed down by people to commemorate Qi Jiguang's achievements, which has been used and developed to this day. The people of Fuqing not only passed down the making method of Guangbing, but also passed down the culture to make ritual offerings, Guangbing, to their ancestors.

Oyster Patties (海蛎饼): Oyster patties are a fried snack made of rice flour (pulp), soya bean powder (pulp), oyster, pork, cabbage and seaweed.

Fish Ball (鱼丸): Fuqing fish balls are balls of fish mince made from eels, mackerel or freshwater fish, and sweet potato flour mixed evenly to make its wrappers. Inside, they contain the mince of pork or shrimp.

Sweet Potato Ball (番薯丸): Sweet potato balls have a wrapper made of starch and sweet potato flour. The mince is made of oyster, seaweed and pork. Sweet potato balls represent family reunion.

Seaweed Cake (紫菜饼): Seaweed cakes are made of flour and seaweed, traditionally using a stone oven.

Festival and special customs
Fuqing has some special customs different from other areas in China, which reflects the local history and culture. Fuqing customs have four obvious influences: (1) the legacy of ancient Yue; (2) ancient Central Plains culture; (3) religion, especially Buddhism and Taoism; (4) in modern times, foreign culture

Spring Festival
Unlike other areas of China, the top part of the couplets traditionally put up during the Chinese New Year are white, not red. It is said that in 1562 on New Year's Eve, when the Japanese invaded Fuqing, people had to escape shortly after putting up the Spring Festival couplets. Upon returning after General Qi Jiguang's victory, people changed the couplets from red, which represents joy and celebration, into green or added white on the top to mourn for their family and friends who had died in the conflict.

On the first day of the new year, people in Fuqing like many across the Eastern Fujian region commonly eat xianmian, an extra-thin wheat noodle, with the addition of two duck eggs to represent longevity. In the local language, the term for "duck egg" (, BUC: ák-lâung) has a pronunciation similar or the same as that of "suppress chaos" (, BUC: ák-lâung); thus the eggs represent peace and stability. The dish is often given the name 'peace noodles'. A similar combination is also commonly eaten on birthdays, where it is dubbed 'longevity noodles'.

The second day of the new year is the day to visit and comfort the family that have lost their family members in the previous year (, alternatively in ). On that day, people thus avoid visiting families where nobody died in the previous year, regarding such a visit as unlucky.

Lantern Festival
The main customs of the Lantern Festival include eating yuanxiao, dragon and lion dance, Shehuo, lantern riddles, stilt, boat, row, and walking on the Li Bridge.

Winter Solstice Festival
The most important part of the winter solstice festival is making glutinous rice balls and preparing the red-orange and ten pairs of chopsticks. The red-orange stands for blessing and the ten pairs of chopsticks stand for family reunion. People also light a pair of red candles to represent prosperity.

Tomb-sweeping Day
The essential part of the Qingming Festival is to offer sacrifices that are often made from paper, as well as fire incense and firecrackers in front of the tomb. After sweeping the tomb, people take some pine branches or flowers back home for good luck.

Transportation
Fuqing has two railway stations. Fuqing railway station was opened on April 26, 2010, on the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, and is situated south of the urban area. A second railway station, Fuqing West railway station on the Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway, was opened to the public on September 28, 2023.

The principal means of public transportation within the city is the bus system, with most of the towns of the peninsula also being served.

Notable people from Fuqing

 * Sudono Salim/Liem Sioe Liong (1916–2012), Indonesian businessman, billionaire. Founder of Salim Group
 * Sutanto Djuhar/ Liem Oen Kian (1928–2018), Indonesian and Chinese businessman. President of RongQiao Group
 * Cao Dewang (1946-), billionaire businessman, chairman of Fuyao Group, winner of Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2009
 * Chen Zhangliang (1961-), Former President of China Agricultural University, vice-governor of Guangxi Province
 * Tjoa Ing Hwie (1925-1985), Indonesian businessman, billionaire. Founder of Gudang Garam tbk.
 * Oei Wie Gwan Indonesian Businessman, Founder of Djarum Clove Cigarette
 * Ye Xianggao (1559–1627), Senior Grand Secretary of the Ming dynasty.
 * Hou Jianguo (born 1959), president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
 * Wu Gan (born 1972), human rights activist
 * Zheng Xingjuan (born 1989), high jumper
 * Xu Yunli (born 1987), Chinese volleyball player, Olympic gold medalist at Rio 2016
 * Lin Li (born 1992), Chinese volleyball player, Olympic gold medalist at Rio 2016

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Fuqing


text: Category:Rock County, Minnesota

title: Category:Rock County, Minnesota


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Morchella esculenta

Morchella esculenta (commonly known as common morel, morel, yellow morel, true morel, morel mushroom, and sponge morel) is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae of the Ascomycota. It is one of the most readily recognized of all the edible mushrooms and highly sought after. Each fruit body begins as a tightly compressed, grayish sponge with lighter ridges, and expands to form a large yellowish sponge with large pits and ridges raised on a large white stem. The pitted yellow-brown caps measure 2 – broad by 2 – tall, and are fused to the stem at its lower margin, forming a continuous hollow. The pits are rounded and irregularly arranged. The hollow stem is typically 2 – long by 2 – thick, and white to yellow. The fungus fruits under hardwoods and conifers during a short period in the spring, depending on the weather, and is also associated with old orchards, woods and disturbed grounds.

Description
The cap is pale brownish cream, yellow to tan or pale brown to grayish brown. The edges of the ridges are usually lighter than the pits, and somewhat oval in outline, sometimes bluntly cone-shaped with a rounded top or more elongate. Caps are hollow, attached to the stem at the lower edge, and typically about 2 – broad by 2 – tall. The flesh is brittle. The stem is white to pallid or pale yellow, hollow, and straight or with a club-shaped or bulbous base. It is finely granular overall, somewhat ridged, generally about 2 – long by 2 – thick. In age it may have brownish stains near the base. It has a passing resemblance to the common stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus), for which it is sometimes mistaken. Yellow morels are often found near wooded areas. Centipedes sometimes make their home inside these morels; infested morels usually have a hole in the top.

Microscopic characteristics
The spores range from white to cream to slightly yellow in deposit, although a spore print may be difficult to obtain given the shape of the fruit body. The spores are formed in asci lining the pits—the ridges are sterile. They are ellipsoidal, smooth, thin-walled, translucent (hyaline), and measure 17.5–21.9 by 8.8–11.0 μm. The asci are eight-spored, 223–300 by 19–20 μm, cylindrical, and hyaline. The paraphyses are filamentous, cylindrical, 5.8–8.8 μm wide, and hyaline.

The hyphae of the stem are interwoven, hyaline, and measure 5.8–9.4 μm wide. The surface hyphae are inflated, spherical to pear-shaped, 22–44 μm wide, covered by a network of interwoven hyphae 11–16.8 μm wide with recurved cylindrical hyphal ends.

Development
Fruit bodies have successfully been grown in the laboratory. R. Ower was the first to describe the developmental stages of ascomata grown in a controlled chamber. This was followed by in-depth cytological studies by Thomas Volk and Leonard (1989, 1990). To study the morel life cycle they followed the development of ascoma fruiting in association with tuberous begonias (Begonia tuberhybrida), from very small primordia to fully developed fruit bodies.

Young fruit bodies begin development in the form of a dense knot of hyphae, when suitable conditions of moisture and nutrient availability conditions have been reached. Hyphal knots are underground and cup-shaped for some time, but later emerge from the soil and develop into a stalked fruiting body. Further growth makes the hymenium convex with the asci facing towards the outer side. Because of the unequal growth of the surface of the hymenium, it becomes folded to form many ridges and depressions, resulting in the sponge or honeycomb appearance.

Similar species
Morchella esculenta is probably the most familiar of the morels. In contrast to M. angusticeps and its relatives, the caps are light-colored throughout development, especially the ridges, which remain paler than the pits. M. crassipes is sometimes confused with M. esculenta. According to Smith (1975), the two are distinct, but young forms of M. crassipes are difficult to separate from M. esculenta. The two are similar in color, but M. crassipes is larger, often has thin ridges, and sometimes has a stem base that is enlarged and longitudinally grooved.

Stinkhorns (esp. Phallus impudicus) have also been confused with morels, but specimens of the former have a volva at the base of the stem, and are covered with gleba—a slimy, foul-smelling spore mass.

See also Gyromitra esculenta, which is similar in appearance but poisonous.

Taxonomy
The fungus was originally named Phallus esculentus by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum (1753), and given its current name by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1801.

Morchella esculenta is commonly known by various names: morel, common morel, true morel, morel mushroom, yellow morel, sponge morel, Molly Moocher, haystack, and dryland fish. In Nepal it is known as Guchi chyau. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin esculenta, meaning "edible".

The scientific name Morchella esculenta has been applied to many similar yellow morels throughout the world. In 2014 Richard et al. used DNA analysis to restrict the M. esculenta name to a single species of yellow morel commonly found in Europe and also reported from China. Other species of yellow morel, including those in North America, have received new scientific names.

Distribution and habitat
Fruit bodies are sometimes solitary, but more often in groups, on the ground in a variety of habitats. A preference for soil with a limestone base (alkaline) has been noted, but they have also been found in acid soils. The mushroom is usually found in early spring, in forests, orchards, yards, gardens and sometimes in recently burned areas. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "May mushroom" due to its consistent fruiting in that month, but the time of fruiting varies locally, from February to July. It is typically the last morel species to fruit in locales where more than one species are found. For example, in northern Canada and in cooler mountainous regions, morels typically do not appear until June. It has been suggested that the springtime fruiting may be due to their ability to grow at low temperatures to the exclusion of competition, a conclusion later corroborated by experiments correlating spore germination to soil temperatures.

One author suggests the acronym PETSBASH may be used to remember the trees associated with morels: pine, elm, tulip, sassafras, beech, ash, sycamore, and hickory.

In North America, it is widely distributed, but especially common in eastern North America and the Midwest. David Arora notes that "large crops can also be found around the bases of dying (but not quite dead) elms attacked by Dutch elm disease." The species has been named state mushroom of Minnesota, and was the first state mushroom of any state.

It can also be found in Brazil and Bulgaria. In Jammu and Kashmir wild mushrooms, locally known as Himalayan wild mushroom, Gucchi, Morchella conica and Morchella esculenta, are gathered and supplied as medical remedy.

Cultivation
Due to the mushroom's prized fruit bodies, several attempts have been made to grow the fungus in culture. In 1901, Repin reported successfully obtaining fruit bodies in a cave in which cultures had been established in flower pots nine years previously in 1892.

Mycologist Taylor Piercefield developed a method using beds of hardwood tree saplings which would be inoculated with mycelium, concentrating on the [https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/yellow-morel-common-morel#:~:text=Belowground%2C%20morels%20form%20symbiotic%20relationships,return%20nutrients%20to%20the%20soil. symbiotic relationship of Morchella esculenta]. Later, once the mycelium network had been fully developed, the beds would be treated with potassium hydroxide to replicate the pH conditions found in soil after a forest fire. This method resulted in large, mature fruits, but was not commercially viable on a large scale. More recently, small scale commercial growers have had success growing morels by using partially shaded rows of mulched wood. The rows of mulch piles are inoculated with morel mushroom spores in a solution of water and molasses which are poured over the piles of mulch and then they are allowed to grow undisturbed for several weeks. A solution of wood ashes mixed in water and diluted is subsequently poured over the rows of wood mulch which triggers fruiting of the morels. Morels are known to appear after fires and the alkaline conditions produced by wood ash mixed with water initiate fruit body formation for most species of morels.

Edibility
Morchella esculenta, like all morels, are among the most highly prized of all edible mushrooms. Raw morels have a gastrointestinal irritant, hydrazine (this has never been found in morel samples however it is assumed), but parboiling or blanching before consumption will remove it. Old fruit bodies that show signs of decay may be poisonous. The mushrooms may be fried in butter or baked after being stuffed with meats and vegetables. The mushrooms may also be dried by threading the caps onto string and hanging them in the sun; this process is said to concentrate the flavour. One study determined the main nutritional components to be as follows (on a dry weight basis): protein 32.7%, fat 2.0%, fiber 17.6%, ash 9.7%, and carbohydrates 38.0%.

In one isolated case in Germany, six people were reported to have developed neurologic effects between 6–12 hours after consumption. The effects included ataxia and visual disturbances, and lasted up to a day before disappearing without enduring effects.

Bioactive compounds
Both the fruit bodies and the mycelia of M. esculenta contain an uncommon amino acid, cis-3-amino- L -proline; this amino acid does not appear to be protein bound. In addition to M. esculenta, the amino acid is known to exist only in M. conica and M. crassipes.

Industrial applications; solid state-fermentation
Solid-state fermentation is an industrial process to produce enzymes and to upgrade the values of existing foods, especially foods from East Asia. Solid-state fermentation is a process whereby an insoluble substrate is fermented with sufficient moisture but without free water. Solid-state fermentation, unlike that of slurry state, requires no complex fermentation controls and has many advantages over submerged liquid fermentation. M. esculenta has shown promise in degrading starch and upgrading the nutritional value of cornmeal during solid-state fermentation.

M. esculenta mycelia is able to bind to and inhibit the effects of furanocoumarins, chemicals found in grapefruit that inhibit human cytochrome p450 enzymes and are responsible for the "grapefruit/drug" interaction phenomenon.

title: Morchella esculenta


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Agaricaceae

The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus Agaricus, as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae.

Taxonomy
The family Agaricaceae was published by French botanist François Fulgis Chevallier in 1826. It is named after the type genus Agaricus, originally circumscribed by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum. In his authoritative 1986 classification of the Agaricales, Rolf Singer divided the Agaricaceae into four tribes distinguished largely by spore color: Leucocoprineae, Agariceae, Lepioteae, and Cystodermateae. Genera once classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Battarreaceae, Lycoperdaceae, and Mycenastraceae have since been moved to the Agaricaceae based on molecular phylogenetics studies. According to a standard reference text, the Agaricaceae contains 85 genera and 1340 species.

Description
Agaricaceae species use a wide variety of fruit body morphology. Although the pileate form (i.e., with a cap and stipe) is predominant, gasteroid and secotioid forms are known. In pileate species, the gills are typically thin, and free from attachment to the stipe. Caps are scurfy to smooth, and range from roughly flat to umbonate. They typically have a centrally attached stipe and a membrane-like partial veil. The species formerly classified in the family Lycoperdaceae are also known as the "true puffballs". Their fruiting bodies are round and are composed of a tough skin surrounding a mass of spores. When they mature, the skin splits open and they release their spores.

The spore print color of Agaricaceae species is highly variable, ranging from white to greenish to ochraceous to pink or sepia; rusty-brown or cinnamon brown colours are absent. Microscopically, the spore surface ranges from smooth to ornamented, and the presence of a germ pore is variable. Amyloidity (i.e. sensitivity to staining in Melzer's reagent) is also variable. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are usually small, four-spored, and may have interspersed cystidia.

Genera
The extinct genus Coprinites is one of four known Agaricaceae genera in the fossil record. Others include Aureofungus, Protomycena, and Archaeomarasmius. Archaeomarasmius leggeti, from Atlantic Coastal Plain amber, is 90–94 Ma); the other fossil genera are from Dominican amber and date to 15–20 Ma.

The family currently includes the following genera:

 * Agaricus
 * Barcheria
 * Bovista
 * Calbovista previously in family Lycoperdaceae.
 * Calvatia
 * Chamaemyces
 * Chlorophyllum
 * Clarkeinda
 * Coniolepiota
 * †Coprinites
 * Coprinus
 * Cystoagaricus
 * Cystolepiota
 * Disciseda
 * Endoptychum
 * Eriocybe
 * Gyrophragmium
 * Handkea
 * Heinemannomyces
 * Hymenagaricus
 * Lepiota
 * Leucoagaricus
 * Leucocoprinus
 * Lycoperdon
 * Macrolepiota
 * Melanophyllum
 * Micropsalliota
 * Montagnea
 * Podaxis
 * Ripartitella
 * Rugosospora
 * Sericeomyces
 * Smithiomyces
 * Tulostoma
 * Verrucospora

Ecology
The Agaricaceae are widely distributed. Most species are saprobic and prefer grassland and woodland habitats. Genera Leucoagaricus and Leucocoprinus are known to be cultivated by fungus-growing ants in ant-fungus mutualism.

Economic significance
The genus Agaricus includes some species that are cultivated commercially throughout the world. The common "button mushroom", Agaricus bisporus, is the most widely cultivated edible mushroom. Agaricus blazei is a well-known medicinal mushroom used for a number of therapeutic and medicinal purposes. Several species are poisonous, such as some Lepiota, ''Agaricus sect. Xanthodermatei and Chlorophyllum'' species.

title: Agaricaceae


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Ahmed Shawki

Ahmed Shawki (أحمد شوقي)and its variants may refer to:

 * Ahmed Shawqi (1868–1932), Egyptian pan-Arab poet and dramatist, a pioneer of the modern Egyptian literary movement
 * Ahmed Chawki (born 1982), Moroccan pop singer

title: Ahmed Shawki


text: Category:Amsterdam

title: Category:Amsterdam


text: Category:Roseau County, Minnesota

title: Category:Roseau County, Minnesota


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Category:Chancellors of Austria

See Chancellor of Austria for a chronological list.

title: Category:Chancellors of Austria


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Russulaceae

The Russulaceae are a diverse family of fungi in the order Russulales, with roughly 1,900 known species and a worldwide distribution. They comprise the brittlegills and the milk-caps, well-known mushroom-forming fungi that include some edible species. These gilled mushrooms are characterised by the brittle flesh of their fruitbodies.

In addition to these typical agaricoid forms, the family contains species with fruitbodies that are laterally striped (pleurotoid), closed (secotioid or gasteroid), or crust-like (corticioid). Molecular phylogenetics has demonstrated close affinities between species with very different fruitbody types and has discovered new, distinct lineages.

An important group of root-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi in forests and shrublands around the world includes Lactifluus, Multifurca, Russula, and Lactarius. The crust-forming genera Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma, all wood-decay fungi, have basal positions in the family.

Systematics and taxonomy
The family Russulaceae was first validly named in 1907 by Dutch botanist Johannes Paulus Lotsy, who included three genera: Russula, Lactarius, and Russulina (now considered a synonym of Russula). He emphasised features such as the granular flesh, thick gills, spiny spores, and milky hyphae and rounded cells (sphaerocytes). A prior usage of "Russulariées" by French mycologist Ernst Roze in 1876 is not considered a valid publication, since the proper Latin termination for the family rank specified in article 18.4 of the nomenclature code was not used.

Synonyms of Russulaceae include: Ernst Albert Gäumann's Lactariaceae (1926), Fernand Moreau's Asterosporaceae (1953), and David Pegler and Thomas Young's Elasmomycetaceae (1979). The latter family was proposed to contain species with statismosporic (non-forcibly discharged) and symmetric spores, including the gasteroid genera Elasmomyces, Gymnomyces, Martellia, and Zelleromyces. Calonge and Martín reduced the Elasmomycetaceae to synonymy with the Russulaceae when molecular analysis confirmed the close genetic relationship between the gasteroid and agaricoid genera.

Placement of the family
Historically, the gilled mushrooms of the family Russulaceae were classified with other gilled species in the order Agaricales, but microscopical studies of spore and fruitbody flesh features raised the possibility that they were more closely related with certain "lower fungi" presenting nongilled, crust-like fruitbodies. The use of molecular phylogenetics confirmed that these morphologically diverse fungi form a distinct lineage, first termed the "russuloid clade" and today classified as order Russulales in the class Agaricomycetes. The family's sister group within the order appears to be the crust-like Gloeocystidiellaceae.

Internal systematics
A 2008 molecular phylogenetic study clarified the relationships among the mushroom-forming species of the family. The authors demonstrated the existence of four distinct lineages of gilled mushrooms, which led to the description of Multifurca as a new genus separated from Russula and the segregation of Lactifluus from Lactarius.

Genera with closed fruitbodies within the family are form taxa instead of natural groups: Arcangeliella, Gastrolactarius, and Zelleromyces are phylogenetically part of Lactarius, while Cystangium, Elasmomyces, Gymnomyces, Macowanites, and Martellia belong to Russula. Nevertheless, some of these genus names are still in use, as many of the concerned species have not yet formally been synonymised with Lactarius or Russula.

The crust-like genera Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma, formerly placed in the Corticiaceae or Gloeocystidiellaceae, are now classified in the Russulaceae and basal to the clade of mushroom-forming species described above. Studies have so far failed to clearly circumscribe and place these genera within the family. Boidinia in its current extent is polyphyletic, with some species not falling into the Russulaceae.

Species diversity
Altogether, the Russulaceae comprise around 1,900 accepted species. Russula is by far the largest genus with c. 1100 species, Lactarius has c. 550, Lactifluus c. 120, Boidinia 13, Multifurca 6, Gloeopeniophorella 6, and Pseudoxenasma 1 species. Closed-fruitbody species not yet synonymised with Lactarius or Russula (see above) account for some 150 species.

New species in the Russulaceae continue to be described from various regions, such as the US, Guyana, Brazil, Patagonia, Togo, Sri Lanka, or Thailand. It has been estimated that the real number of Russula species in North America alone (currently around 400 described) might be as high as 2000. Cryptic species may increase true diversity: some morphologically well-defined species, especially in Lactifluus, have been shown to actually encompass several phylogenetic species.

Macroscopic characteristics
Three major types of fruitbodies occur in the Russulaceae: agaricoid and pleurotoid forms with a cap, gills, and a stipe; forms with closed (gasteroid) or partially closed (secotioid) fruitbodies, and corticioid, crust-like forms.

The agaricoid species in Lactarius, Lactifluus, Multifurca, and Russula are readily distinguished from other gilled mushrooms by the consistency of their flesh, which is granular, brittle and breaks easily, somewhat like a piece of chalk. Russulaceae never have a volva, but a partial veil can be found in some tropical species. Gills are adnate to decurrent, and the colour of the spore print ranges from white to ochre or orange (with the brown-spored Lactarius chromospermus as an exception ).

Caps can be dull to very colourful, the latter especially in Russula; their size ranges from 17 mm diameter or less in Russula campinensis to 30 cm in Lactifluus vellereus. Concentrically ringed (zonate) caps occur in all Multifurca and several Lactarius species. Laterally striped (pleurotoid) fruitbodies exist in some, mainly tropical Lactifluus and Russula species. Taste is a distinguishing characteristic in many species, from mild to very acrid. A conspicuous feature of the "milk-caps" in Lactarius, Lactifluus, and Multifurca furcata is the latex or "milk" their fruitbodies exude when bruised.

The secotioid and gasteroid species in Lactarius and Russula are derived from agaricoid forms. Secotioid species still have a stipe but the cap does not open fully, while in gasteroid species, fruitbodies are completely closed and the stipe is reduced; in both cases, the spore-bearing structure is made up of convoluted gills that are more or less crowded and anastomosed. These closed-fruitbody species represent a continuum of secotioid to gasteroid, above-ground to below-ground fruitbodies, with spores forcibly discharged or not. Secotioid or gasteroid Lactarius exude latex just like their agaricoid relatives.

The corticioid species of Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma develop crust-like fruitbodies with a smooth, porous, or flaky surface and grow on tree logs or dead branches.

Microscopic characteristics

All Russulaceae, including the corticioid species, are characterised by spherical to elliptic basidiospores with a faint to very distinct (e.g. warty, spiny, or crested) ornamentation that stains bluish-black with Melzer's reagent (an amyloid stain reaction). Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are usually club-shaped and four-spored. Russulaceae species do not have clamp connections.

Characteristic cells with an oily content (gloeocystidia) are found in the hymenium. In Russulaceae, these show a positive colour reaction when treated with sulfoaldehydes (sulfovanillin is mostly used). They are also present in the hyphal sheath of ectomycorrhizal roots colonised by Russulaceae.

The feature responsible for the brittle fruitbody structure in the mushroom-forming species are globular cells, called sphaerocytes or sphaerocysts, that compose the flesh (trama) alongside the usual hyphae. Sometimes, these cells are clustered, and the position and arrangement of these clusters differs among genera.

Another particular trama cell type are lactiferous hyphae (also lactifers). These are hyphae carrying the "milk" or "latex" exuded by the milk-caps; they react positively with sulfoaldehydes, form an abundantly branched system in the trama and end as pseudocystidia in the hymenium. In general, only Lactarius, Lactifluus and Multifurca furcata possess lactifers. In Russula, similar hyphae can sometimes be observed in the trama, but these are not as abundantly branched as real lactifers and do not extend into the hymenium as pseudocystidia. This traditional distinction line between the "milk-caps" and Russula is however less evident in some tropical species presenting intermediate states.

Genera distinction
Some characteristics of the mushroom-forming genera (marked with * below) can be less obvious or absent in tropical species. Distinguishing between Lactarius and Lactifluus based on morphology alone is quite difficult, as clear synapomorphies for both genera have yet to be identified. Most field guides treat the two genera together, often because Lactifluus is not yet recognised as a separate genus.
 * Boidinia: corticioid; loose texture; surface smooth, with pores, or flaky; spores spherical with spiny to warty ornamentation. Note that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be redefined.
 * Gloeopeniophorella: corticioid; surface almost smooth; hyphae without clamp connections; thick-walled cystidia (metuloids) and gloeocystidia present; spores with wrinkled (rugose) ornamentation.
 * Lactarius: agaricoid or gasteroid; exuding latex*; caps sometimes zonate, viscose or glutinate, but never annulate; rarely thick-walled cells in cuticles of the cap (pileipellis) and the stipe (stipitipellis) and sphaerocytes in the gills.
 * Lactifluus: agaricoid or pleurotoid; exuding latex*; caps never zonate, viscose or glutinate, but sometimes annulate; thick-walled cells in cap and stipe cuticles; often sphaerocytes in the gill trama.
 * Multifurca: agaricoid; caps zonate (also visible in cut through trama); gills regularly forked; only M. furcata exuding latex; spore print orange; spores very small; microscopical trama and hymenium features very variable.
 * Pseudoxenasma: corticioid; wax-like texture; gloeocystidia with spherical apical appendices; basidia developing laterally on hyphae (pleurobasidia); spores broadly ellipsoid to roughly spherical, with warty ornamentation.
 * Russula: agaricoid, gasteroid or pleurotoid; never exuding latex; caps often brightly coloured with stipe and gills much paler; caps not zonate*; spore print white, cream, ochre, or orange; no true lactiferous hyphae*; sphaerocytes abundant in gill, cap, and stipe trama.

Distribution
The Russulaceae as a whole have a worldwide distribution, but patterns differ among genera. Russula is the most widespread, found in North, Central and South America,  Europe, temperate  and tropical Asia,  Africa, and Australasia. It is the only Russulaceae genus that occurs in the Nothofagus zone of temperate South America.

Lactarius is mainly known from the north temperate zone, but some species also occur in tropical Asia and Africa. Lactifluus has a more tropical distribution than Lactarius, with most species known from tropical Africa, Asia, South America, and Australasia, but some also occurring in the north temperate zone. Multifurca is the rarest among the four mushroom genera, known only from some punctual records in North and Central America, Asia, and Australasia.

Species of Lactarius, Lactifluus, and Russula have repeatedly been introduced with trees outside their native range: An overview article lists introductions in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, the US, Great Britain, the Faroe Islands, South Africa, China, Thailand, and New Zealand.

Among the corticioid genera, Pseudoxenasma is only known from Europe. In contrast, Boidinia species have been found in Europe, Taiwan, and Japan, and Gloeopeniophorella species in North America, South America, Europe, West Africa, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis
The genera Lactarius, Lactifluus, Multifurca and Russula form a mutualistic ectomycorrhizal root symbiosis with trees and shrubs, exchanging mineral nutrients for photosynthetic sugar. They are one of several fungal lineages that have evolved such a lifestyle and are sometimes referred to as the "/russula-lactarius" clade in the scientific literature. Worldwide, they are one of the most frequently encountered lineages on ectomycorrhizal roots. While some tropical species were initially believed to be parasitic, the observation that species fruiting on tree trunks do form ectomycorrhiza in tropical Guyana supports the view of an exclusively symbiotic lineage.

Associations are known with several plant families. In the Northern Hemisphere, these are essentially the well-known ectomycorrhizal trees and shrubs in the Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Pinaceae and Salicaceae, but in arctic and alpine habitats, Russulaceae also associate with Bistorta vivipara (Polygonaceae), Kobresia (Cyperaceae), and Dryas octopetala (Rosaceae), ectomycorrhizal plants untypic in their respective families. In the tropics, known plant partners include Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae,  Nyctaginaceae,  Phyllanthaceae, Polygonaceae (Coccoloba), Sarcolaenaceae, and the gymnosperm Gnetum gnemon, and in the Southern Hemisphere, Nothofagaceae,   Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus and Leptospermum  ), and Rhamnaceae (Pomaderris). Some Russulaceae are quite specialised in their ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, such as Lactarius and Russula species that only grow with Cistus shrubs in the Mediterranean basin.

The different plant partners are reflected in the wide variety of habitats worldwide. Ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae have been observed in arctic and alpine tundra, boreal and alpine forest, north temperate forest,  mires, mediterranean forests and scrub (maquis),  miombo woodland, tropical lowland rainforest,  tropical cloud forest, tropical dry forest, Australian eucalypt woodlands, and south temperate forests. Where they are introduced, they typically grow in plantations of their native host species, e.g. with pine in South Africa, Eucalyptus in Thailand, or birch in New Zealand.

Other types of mycorrhiza

Some of the ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae are also involved in other types of root symbioses with plants.

A mutualistic association similar to ectomycorrhiza but with some hyphae penetrating into the plant root cells, termed arbutoid mycorrhiza, is formed by Russulaceae with shrubs of the genera Arbutus and Arctostaphylos, both in subfamily Arbutoideae of the Ericaceae.

Some Russulaceae are associated with myco-heterotrophic plants of the Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae, forming monotropoid mycorrhiza. This is an epiparasitic relationship, where the heterotrophic plant ultimately derives its carbon from the primary, ectomycorrhizal plant partner of the fungus. The association is often very specific, with the heterotrophic plants only associating with selected fungus partners, including Russulaceae.

Russulaceae are also an important group of orchid mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis is mutualistic in the case of green orchids, but a partly or fully epiparasitic relationship in the case of myco-heterotrophic and mixotrophic orchids, respectively. In some cases, the association with Russulaceae is, as in monotropoid mycorrhiza, very specific: the Mediterranean orchid Limodorum abortivum predominantly associates with Russula delica and closely related species; in Corallorhiza maculata, different genotypes of the same species have distinct Russula partners.

Wood decay species
The corticioid species in Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma are saprotrophic, wood-degrading fungi that develop on dead wood. Their early-branching positions in the phylogeny suggests this has been the ancestral trophic mode of the Russulaceae, and that the mycorrhizal lifestyle (see above) evolved later. The saprotrophic nature of these species has been questioned, based on the observation that other inconspicuous, crust-forming fungi are ectomycorrhizal; a subsequent author reaffirms nevertheless that "[n]one of the corticioid species in the family shows any sign of mycorrhizal activity."

Hypogeous fruiting
Hypogeous fruitbodies, or fruitbodies developing below ground, occur in Lactarius and Russula and have previously been considered as distinct genera (see Systematics and taxonomy: Internal systematics). As such species are especially diverse in some warm and dry regions, e.g. in Spain, California, or Australia, below-ground fruiting has been interpreted as an adaptation to drought. However, hypogeous Russulaceae are also known from cold temperate regions and tropical rainforest. The fact that hypogeous species in the Russulaceae do not form their own lineages but are scattered in Russula or Lactarius shows that this type of fruiting evolved several times. It is believed that these changes are evolutionarily quite recent.

Parasites

Russulaceae fruitbodies are subject to parasitisation by other fungi. The genus Asterophora develops on old fruitbodies of the mushroom species in the family, as does Dendrocollybia racemosa on at least Russula crassotunicata. Fruitbodies of Lactifluus or Russula species otherwise hot-tasting and unpalatable are regarded as choice edibles in North America when infected by the "lobster mushroom" Hypomyces lactifluorum. Heterotrophic plants, including orchids or monotropoids, also parasitise ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae and their plant partners – see above, Other types of mycorrhiza.

Threats and conservation
As with most fungi, little information is available on the threat of extinction for Russulaceae species, and they have not been assessed in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List. However, national lists contain some species of Lactarius, Lactifluus and Russula, indicating that they have small populations and are endangered, e.g. in Great Britain, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand.

Although data on Russulaceae themselves are scarce, more is known about the habitats they occur in, especially for the ectomycorrhizal species which depend on their host plants: Several of these habitats are affected by loss or degradation, such as peatlands, Mediterranean forests and scrub or tropical African dry woodland. Similarly, dead wood, the habitat of the corticioid Russulaceae, is rare in many exploited forests and needs special management.

Recent studies have found some traditional Russulaceae species to comprise several cryptic species (see Systematics and taxonomy: Species diversity). This may imply that distribution range and population size for each of such distinct species are smaller than previously thought.

Edibility

Several species of Lactarius, Lactifluus and Russula are valued as excellent edible mushrooms. This is the case for example for the north temperate species Lactarius deliciosus, Lactifluus volemus, or Russula vesca, and other species are popular in other parts of the world, e.g. Lactarius indigo in Mexico, or Lactifluus edulis in tropical Africa. Some species, like Russula vesca, can even be eaten raw. The brittle texture of Russula fruitbodies makes them different from other mushrooms and is not appreciated by some.

Several species have a hot to very acrid taste and can cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Despite this, such species are eaten in some regions, e.g. Lactarius torminosus in Finland or Russia. Often, they are parboiled or pickled to make them palatable, and sometimes, they are used as spice, for example Russula emetica in Eastern Europe. Some species are however truly poisonous: the East Asian and North American Russula subnigricans causes rhabdomyolysis and is potentially lethal, and Lactarius turpis from Eurasia contains a mutagenic substance.

Cultivation of edible Russulaceae, as in other ectomycorrhizal fungi, is challenging, since the presence of host trees is required. In spite of this difficulty, the European Lactarius deliciosus has been successfully grown in "mushroom orchards" in New Zealand.

Chemistry

Fruitbodies of Russulaceae have been the subject of natural product research, and different classes of organic compounds have been isolated from them.

Aroma compounds are responsible for the particular odour or taste in some species, e.g. sotolon in the fenugreek-smelling Lactarius helvus, or the similar quabalactone III in Lactarius rubidus which causes a maple syrup-like odour in dried specimens. Pigments have been isolated from brightly coloured species, e.g. (7-isopropenyl-4-methylazulen-1-yl)methyl stearate from the blue Lactarius indigo or russulaflavidin and a derivative from the yellow Russula flavida. Some Russula species contain pigmented pteridine derivatives called russupteridines that are not found in the milk-caps. Sesquiterpenes are characteristic secondary metabolites of many Russulaceae, especially milk-caps which have been quite intensively studied. They are thought to be responsible for the hot taste in many species and may have deterrent, antifeeding functions in nature.

Other metabolites isolated from different species include dibenzonaphtyridinone alkaloids, prenylated phenols, benzofurans, chromenes, natural rubber (polyisoprene), sterols, and the sugar alcohol volemitol. Among toxic substances, Lactarius turpis contains the mutagenic alkaloid necatorin, and the small compound cycloprop-2-ene carboxylic acid has been identified as the toxic agent in Russula subnigricans. Some secondary metabolites showed antibiotic properties in laboratory tests. An ethanolic extract of Russula delica was antibacterial, and a lectin from Russula rosea showed antitumor activity.

title: Russulaceae