Lingzhi (mushroom)
Species of fungus / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Lingzhi mushroom?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Lingzhi, Ganoderma sichuanense, also known as reishi or Ganoderma lingzhi[3] is a polypore fungus ("bracket fungus") native to East Asia belonging to the genus Ganoderma.
Lingzhi | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Polyporales |
Family: | Ganodermataceae |
Genus: | Ganoderma |
Species: | G. sichuanense |
Binomial name | |
Ganoderma sichuanense J.D. Zhao & X.Q. Zhang (1983)[1] | |
Synonyms[2][3] | |
Ganoderma lingzhi Sheng H. Wu, Y. Cao & Y.C. Dai (2012) |
Lingzhi | |
---|---|
Pores on hymenium | |
Cap is offset or indistinct | |
Hymenium attachment is irregular or not applicable | |
Stipe is bare or lacks a stipe | |
Spore print is brown | |
Ecology is saprotrophic or parasitic | |
Edibility is too hard to eat |
Lingzhi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 靈芝 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 灵芝 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Its reddish brown, varnished, kidney-shaped cap with bands and peripherally inserted stem give it a distinct fan-like appearance. When fresh, the lingzhi is soft, cork-like, and flat. It lacks gills on its underside, and instead releases its spores via fine pores (80–120 μm) in yellow colors.[2]
In nature, it grows at the base and stumps of deciduous trees, especially maples. Only two or three out of 10,000 such trees will have lingzhi growth, and therefore its wild form is rare.[citation needed] Lingzhi may be cultivated on hardwood logs, sawdust, or woodchips.
The lingzhi mushroom is used in traditional Chinese medicine.[2][4] There is insufficient evidence to indicate that consuming lingzhi mushrooms or their extracts has any effect on human health or diseases.[5][6][7]