@fascinatedbyfungi: Today we dive deep into Reishi-type mushrooms! This impressive mushroom is the #HemlockVarnishShelf or #Ganodermatsugae, they are polypores form large shelves, they are eye catching it shiny but are also often covered in a thick layer of chocolaty brown spores. This is a native species of Ganoderma that grows here in the North East on Hemlock trees (as opposed to imported/invasive species from China). These are white rot fungus that digest the lignin in wood (the main structural component of wood), making them weakly parasitic. Right now Hemlocks are being massacred across North America by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), similar to an aphid they feed on sap and lead to tree death. Because of all the dead/dying Hemlocks, it’s been easy to find Ganoderma tsugae, but both the tree host and this mushroom are threatened by this invasive pest. The forest ecology is shifting quickly and dramatically, it’s hard to predict how this will impact forest health, but it is not good. . On a less gloomy note, these mushrooms are amazing for the amount of bioactive compounds they contain. The fruiting bodies can persist for many months (or years if they are dried out and stored properly), because they contain a whole host of complex polysaccharides, sesquiterpenes, lectins, fatty acids, and peptides that have been shown to have anti-microbial properties. This type of mushroom is a very important part of traditional Chinese medicine, and purportedly has a huge number of benefits. There are a plethora of studies with mice showing that extracts of these mushrooms can fight cancers and increase wound healing, however the science hasn’t necessarily backed up all of these claims in human trials, What is clear is that Reishi mushrooms can help to stimulate your immune system, with fungal sugar being incorporated into our antibodies. The best way to consume these mushrooms as medicine is in the powdered form (as opposed to tinctures). While these mushrooms can be cultivated, it’s clear that the composition of bioactive compounds is a function of substrate and environment, meaning not all mushrooms grow with equal potency. Go Ganoderma! #reishi #mushroomedu

Dr. Gordon Walker (FunGuy)

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Wednesday 28 June 2023 00:24:53 GMT