Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)

Unlike other opportunities or articles that you can find on our website, today we will focus on talking about a different species than what is usually common. We will not talk about a plant, but about a well-known species of fungus.

El Ganoderma lucidum It is a fungus that is peculiarly known throughout the Asian continent and distributed and cultivated in many countries throughout the world. The eccentricity of this fungus has managed to survive countless generations.

General data

The first impression that many who do not know this mushroom get is thanks to its strange name, but it has other names. In the vast majority of Asian countries it is known as reishi.

Similarly, in China it is very popular under the name Lingzhi. In Japan it is also widely cultivated and the name of reishi is the most predominant of all its names. The translation of reishi into Spanish means Divine Mushroom. Although it is also often called Mannentake, whose translation into Spanish would be “10 year old mushroom or immortality mushroom".

For thousands of years, this fungus has been used and especially to treat multiple conditions and problems that people often suffer from. And although there is no scientific evidence to support the potential uses of reishi, some Asian researchers have discovered just over 150 oxidants and nutrients in the fungus, which may explain the great use that has been given to it all these hundreds of years in the Asian continent.

In case you are wondering, the scope of this fungus is so wide that it is currently cultivated not only in the Asian continent, but also in North America. Although you can also see this species in Spain and other countries.

Features Ganoderma lucidum

You have already known the general aspects and data of this fungus, now it is time for you to know in better detail some of its physical characteristics. So you can identify this fungus as soon as you see it and know that it is a Ganoderma lucidum.

Its appearance or shape

This is a mushroom whose design on top looks a lot like a human kidney or bean grain. When found in nature, it tends to have a flattened appearance and is soft to the touch. The hue of this mushroom can vary from reddish to mahogany.

And although most have the same aesthetic design, this will depend on the conditions that occur in the environment where it grows, so one mushroom will be very different from another. You may find a kidney-shaped as well as a spatula-shaped mushroom. But usually, the fungus does not usually acquire a size greater than 15 diameters.

Large amount of bioactive components

For several millennia, this mushroom has been used for natural medicine and treatments. And although it can be very useful, it is not easy to synthesize an effective medicine for a certain ailment or condition, since it contains more than 400 bioactive components.

This large number of components can become a problem, but at the same time a solution to a health problem. What is undeniable is that this mushroom has become a rich nutritional and therapeutic source.

Habitat and distribution

This is a species of fungi whose distribution occurs in areas with warm environments and its growth is greatly favored thanks to dead or decomposing trunks. This is its main way of growing or cultivating it.

Reishi is a mushroom that can develop at any time of the year, and although their growth occurs mainly in decomposing trunks, they also have the ability to grow attached to the trunk of the tree even while it is alive or grow from the roots of these.

As we have said before, this is a mushroom that can grow in a wide variety of countries, but its cultivation has increased mainly in countries such as:

• Britain.
• Trinidad and Tobago.
• Papua New Guinea.
• Uganda and Zambia.

Most of the time the country does not matter. What matters are the environmental conditions that the fungus needs to grow, since these have to be hot and humid.

Farming

Despite being one of the most widely used mushroom species in the world, it is a fungus it is not found in large quantities naturally. That is why there are the necessary conditions so that they can grow and / or cultivate them.

And it is that for a few decades, reishi cultivation has been carried out in bireactors that are on solid substrates, or that are immersed in liquid substrates.

As for the way of growing it, this is achieved through sacks or, failing that, containers or bottles full of sawdust. Otherwise, the ambient temperature must be taken into account, the humidity level and the amount of oxygen that will be provided.

The growth of this fungus will occur as long as it is at a temperature that is between 10 and 38 ° C., And if you want to have a suitable temperature for the incubation of the fungus, must be between 25 and 32 ° C.

Turning to what would be in the light, the fungus has the ability to grow without having a light source. That is, it can grow in the dark and as long as it is a development of the mycelium.

Uses

To finish, you should know some uses that it has been given and that continue to be given to this millenary fungus. Some of them are:

• It can reduce the size of cancerous tumors found in the colon and rectum.
• It can help control diabetes in people with this disease.
• The mixture of this mushroom, along with other ingredients, can be effective in dealing with mouth sores.
• It is effective in reducing the time it takes to treat genital herpes.
• They can decrease the level of tiredness that a person with cancer feels.
• It has an effect on cancer lungs that makes them a little more immune to the disease, but effects are not very visible.
• As a stimulant of the immune system.
• It helps to prevent infections.
• They can be combined with herbs to treat prostate cancer.
• Control the effects of the human papillomavirus, herpes and other similar problems.
• And just as there are these uses, there are many others for which it has not been possible to obtain favorable results.

Today still a well-studied species of fungus and that after a very few years, the level of effectiveness of this species will be determined to be applied for medical purposes.