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(Mannentake= 10.000 year mushroom; Sawaitake = good fortune mushroom; Ling Chi, Ling Chih of Ling Zhi=Tree for life mushroom, Panacea polypore)
The name Ganoderma is from the Greek ganos which means "shining" and the word dermal which means "skin". Lucidium is the Latin word for "shining".
This mushroom has been used as a medicine by various nations for centuries.
Ganoderma lucidium is a so-called Basidiomycete and in Dutch it is called " gesteelde lakzwam" . This annual mushroom is firm and leathery, with a smooth surface and it can occur in 6 different colours, for instance black, brown and red. According to Japanese research (from the University of Kyoto), the colour is dependent on the growing circumstances, such as temperature, humidity, CO2 content and nutrients. The cap is between 10-25cm wide and 2-3cm thick. The stem 10-25 x 1-3 cm, smooth, shining, dark brown-red. Meat cork-like, leathery, creamy. The colour of the spores is brown.
The mushroom grows at the feet of, or in holes of, stems, on stumps and trunks of broad-leaved trees (beech, oak, poplar, horse chestnut). When reishi do not grow on the roots but on the stem or a stump, they will often have no stem, or just a little stump. Near the ground the stem can be as long as 10 cm.
Ganoderma lucidium is mainly used because of its medicinal value and less for its nutritional value. It is well-known for its positive effects on the immune system and its capacity to improve the resistance. It also improves the general health condition, so it is increasingly used, for instance, by cancer patients who have to undergo radiation treatment or a course of chemotherapy, or who have already had these treatments.
Usually a diluted extract is made in hot water, which is subsequently used for making tea, syrup and soup. The taste of the yellow mushroom is often more bitter than the red or black mushroom. There are many products on the market which have been derived from the Ganoderma lucidium, such as tea, powder and nutritional supplements. They are prepared from different parts of the mushroom: spores, mycelium or from the mushroom itself.
