Ling Zhi or Ling Chi
REISHI: ANCIENT MEDICINE IS MODERN HOPE
Western culture is beginning to use mushrooms, the small innocuous forest growth. The French prize their truffles, but even truffles and other edible fungi and mushrooms are not as highly valued or show as much potential as a species of mushrooms called Ling Zhi or Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum).
The late Hiroshi Hikino, recognized as the world's authority on the chemistry of Oriental medicinal plants, called Reishi one of "the most important elixirs in the Orient."
Relatively rare and undiscovered in the West, Reishi and other mushrooms have been revered as herbal medicines for thousands of years in Japan and China. Emperors of the great Chinese dynasties and Japanese royalty drank teas and concoctions of the mushroom for vitality and long life. The ancient Taoists were constantly searching for the elixir of eternal youth, and Reishi was believed to be among the ingredients.
In modern times, Ganoderma lucidum and its fellow mushrooms have been well-researched in Asian universities. It is currently being studied in China as a sports performance enhancer. Its long History has sparked interest in the West where it is used by herbalists to treat diverse problems such as allergies, chronic Fatigue Syndrome, diabetes, liver diseases and many immune-related diseases.
As little as 30 years ago, Reishi was rarely found in Asia. It grew in the wild, but was extremely hard to cultivate. Now with an increased knowledge of the environment it thrives in, botanists are able to set up artificial growth conditions with the correct amounts of oxygen and moisture for the spores to grow into the Reishi mushroom.
JUST ANOTHER FUNGUS?
Reishi mushrooms are a polypore mushroom. Mushrooms are the fruiting body and reproductive structure of a higher order fungus organism, much like an apple is the fruit of an apple tree. The actual mushroom "tree" is a fine thread-like network called mycelium. This mycelium is for the most part subterranean, living in soil, logs and other organic litter.
Unlike green plants, which produce many of their own nutrients by photosynthesis, mushrooms primarily get their nutrients from dead organic matter or soil. Mushrooms and their mycelium are nature's original recyclers. Without them, the planet surface would be piled high with dead, decaying material and many symbiotic relationships would fail to have occured.
Mushrooms rise out of the mycelium when the right nutrients are amassed and the right environmental conditions present themselves. Mushrooms release spores at maturity. The wind spreads them and when they land on the right spot, the cycle starts over again.
Western culture is beginning to use mushrooms, the small innocuous forest growth. The French prize their truffles, but even truffles and other edible fungi and mushrooms are not as highly valued or show as much potential as a species of mushrooms called Ling Zhi or Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum).
The late Hiroshi Hikino, recognized as the world's authority on the chemistry of Oriental medicinal plants, called Reishi one of "the most important elixirs in the Orient."
Relatively rare and undiscovered in the West, Reishi and other mushrooms have been revered as herbal medicines for thousands of years in Japan and China. Emperors of the great Chinese dynasties and Japanese royalty drank teas and concoctions of the mushroom for vitality and long life. The ancient Taoists were constantly searching for the elixir of eternal youth, and Reishi was believed to be among the ingredients.
In modern times, Ganoderma lucidum and its fellow mushrooms have been well-researched in Asian universities. It is currently being studied in China as a sports performance enhancer. Its long History has sparked interest in the West where it is used by herbalists to treat diverse problems such as allergies, chronic Fatigue Syndrome, diabetes, liver diseases and many immune-related diseases.
As little as 30 years ago, Reishi was rarely found in Asia. It grew in the wild, but was extremely hard to cultivate. Now with an increased knowledge of the environment it thrives in, botanists are able to set up artificial growth conditions with the correct amounts of oxygen and moisture for the spores to grow into the Reishi mushroom.
JUST ANOTHER FUNGUS?
Reishi mushrooms are a polypore mushroom. Mushrooms are the fruiting body and reproductive structure of a higher order fungus organism, much like an apple is the fruit of an apple tree. The actual mushroom "tree" is a fine thread-like network called mycelium. This mycelium is for the most part subterranean, living in soil, logs and other organic litter.
Unlike green plants, which produce many of their own nutrients by photosynthesis, mushrooms primarily get their nutrients from dead organic matter or soil. Mushrooms and their mycelium are nature's original recyclers. Without them, the planet surface would be piled high with dead, decaying material and many symbiotic relationships would fail to have occured.
Mushrooms rise out of the mycelium when the right nutrients are amassed and the right environmental conditions present themselves. Mushrooms release spores at maturity. The wind spreads them and when they land on the right spot, the cycle starts over again.
posted by Unknown at 8:14 PM
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