Abstract
Abstract Fungi is one of the multiferious group of organisms in thw world. They play important ecological roles, including nutrient cycling, decomposition, and mycorrhizal symbiosis. They also provide important nutritional and medicinal resources, and are widely used for treating various diseases. Pakistan’s have diverse ecosystems and long history of wild mushroom use, information on the diversity, distribution and medicinal potential of wild edible mushrooms remains scarce and has not been comprehensively integrated. This study addresses this gap by reviewing poorly documented fungal diversity and ethnomycological knowledge in Pakistan, with implications for conservation, sustainable harvesting and future research. Data were collected, oranized and compiled through a comprehensive survey of the published literature, including 162 research articles up to 2026, retrieved from different search engines, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, PakMediNet and local research repositories. The relevant studies were identified by using keywords, “wild edible mushrooms,” “medicinal mushrooms,” “ethnomycology,” “mushroom traditional uses,” and “mushrooms in Pakistan. Non-English literature, news articles and conference papers were excluded. A total of 132 edible mushroom species belonging to 39 families were documented. . The dominant family was Agaricaceae (22 species), followed by Boletaceae (14 species) and Morchellaceae (11 species). In present study genus Morchella was the most species-rich, with 12 species. Geographically, Azad Jammu and Kashmir had the highest recorded species diversity (74.2%), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (64.4%), Sindh (11.4%) and Gilgit Baltistan (9.8%), which remained comparatively unexplored. Of the 132 species, 88 (66.7%) have reported medicinal properties, with antioxidant, antitumor, anticancer and antimicrobial potential. Major research gaps included a lack of medicinal-use data for 44 species and complete information gaps for 10 species. Overall, Pakistan is a hubof wild edible mushroom diversity with reported medicinal potential, emphasizing the need for comprehensive exploration, molecular identification and documentation of traditional knowledge for conservation and sustainable use.