Originally described from Yunnan, China, further collections and the lumping of other species into Cantharellus yunnanensis have expanded its range across East Asia. It is unlikely to approach the thresholds for consideration as threatened under any criterion and so C. yunnanensis is assessed as Least Concern.

Chanterelle species

This species was first recorded from Yunnan Province, China (Chiu 1973), and subsequent collections have found the species to be widespread in this province along with Guizhou (Shao et al. 2021). Taxonomic work has shown that Cantharellus tuberculosporus, described from Tibet [or Xizang], and C. anzutake, described from Japan, but also known from China and the Korean peninsula (see GBIF 2024), are synonyms of C. yunnanensis (Cao et al. 2021). Thus, this species has a wide distribution in East Asia.

The species is found growing singularly to caespitose (Shao et al. 2021), and has a wide distribution. Although the number of mature individuals has not been calculated, given its wide range it is likely to far exceed the thresholds for consideration as threatened under the criteria based on the population size.

There appears to be relatively little forest cover loss within its potential range, suggesting that there would be little impact on the population, however, it is collected for sale, but the overall impact of such collection on the population is unknown. Thus the overall population trend is unknown, although if it were to be found to be in decline it is not suspected to be declining very rapidly.

This is an ectomycorrhizal forest species (Chiu 1973, Shao et al. 2021). It is general found with Pinus species on the soil, but has also been noted with Fagaceae (Cao et al. 2021, Shao et al. 2021). Shao et al. (2021) note collections up to 2,550 m asl, and down to 680 m asl in Yunnan.

While there could be localised threats to its habitat, across the full potential range of the species there is relatively little forest cover loss (World Resources Institute 2024). The species is readily collected for sale in markets (Zhang et al. 2022), and so there is the potential for over-collection but with current information this cannot be confirmed to be impacting the population at this time, and further research is required.

Further surveying should be conducted to try to get a clearer indication of the full range of the species, and this will aid in gaining a better idea of its population size and trend, as well as identifying any potential major threats. The impacts of harvest collection on this species’ ability to persist at certain locations should be investigated.

This is an edible species of mushroom, sold in markets (Shao et al. 2021, Zhang et al. 2022). It may also have some medicinal benefits (Pan et al. 2023).