I have loved mushrooms since childhood, and I have also been a programmer for a long time. Combining these two hobbies, I wrote this website. Previously, I had two other mushroom identification sites, which I sold. Only one of them remains accessible today. My goal with the current site is to create an easy-to-use search and identification platform that works great both in the field and at home. I hope it brings joy to others.
Bartha László
Species flashcards
Practice area: created for the 303-species Hungarian mushroom inspector requirement. It is not an official examination; requirements in other countries may differ.
Reishi Mushroom
Ganoderma lucidum
not edible
- Habitat: deciduous stump
- Fruiting season: June – October
- Cap: flat smooth
- Stem:
- Fertile layer: narrow
Description
Fruiting body: 5-10 (15) cm in diameter; semicircular, kidney or fan-shaped, reddish, center brownish, the growing cap margin whitish, yellowish; surface semicircularly grooved, shiny, covered with a lacquer-like layer.
Hymenium: The pores are small, regular; whitish, later becoming dirty gray.
Stem: 5-10 cm long, 0.5-2 cm thick; lateral, uneven, often slightly flattened, often curved; color and surface similar to the cap.
Flesh: Fibrous, tough, woody hard; light brown; smell not characteristic, taste bitter.
Spore: Reddish-brown; 7-13 x 6-8 μm; ellipsoid or egg-shaped, one end flattened, double-walled, decorated with small warts.
Occurrence: From June to October, in deciduous forests, mainly oak forests, at the base of trees, on stumps, singly or in groups, common species.
Edibility: Not edible, but can be used for making medicinal tea. Its taste is quite bitter, smell not characteristic.
Confusion: The young fruiting body is pencil-shaped, its apex rounded, whitish. Hardly confused with any other species. Due to its medicinal significance, it is cultivated in Far Eastern countries. Similar to it are the giant lacquered polypore, the powdery polypore, and the dark lacquered polypore, which also belong to the same genus.
Note: The Latin lucidum means: shiny, or bright. Ganoderma comes from the Greek words Ganos and derma, meaning shiny skin, derma is Latin for skin. So almost both names mean the same thing. Comparing several members of the genus, the reishi mushroom is outstandingly shiny compared to the others.
Species description: In 1781, the British William Curtis (1746-1799) described it scientifically and gave it the name Boletus lucidus. In the other hemisphere, the famous Finnish Peter Karsten (1834 -1917) mycologist in 1881 transferred it to the current genus and renamed it Ganoderma lucidum.
Taxonomy
- PhylumBasidiomycota
- ClassAgaricomycetes
- OrderPolyporales
- FamilyGanodermataceae
- GenusGanoderma
- Species: lucidum
- Described by: (Curtis) P. Karst.
- Hungarian name: pecsétviaszgomba, lakkostapló
- Lifestyle: necrotrophic parasite
- Edibility: not edible
