Ganoderma lingzhi
f. cul. medicinalis
f. cul.
Ganoderma lingzhi f. cul. medicinalis
medicinalis: Recorded only as a medicine. There is a record of people taking this mushroom as medicine -- a condition treated, or an action on the body -- and no record of it eaten as food, and no molecule of concern is on its record. Laboratory findings (antitumor, antioxidant, antimicrobial) are not records of use. The word names how people used the mushroom, not that it is safe: research the preparation and dose before taking it. A species that is also eaten is innocuus, and its medicinal use is in its note. Latin, medicinalis: of medicine.
On Medicinal Use, The Complete Table.
GBIF: photographs, names and where it has been found.
Sources
| William Rubel, the Taxonomy of Toxins | ‘lingzhi, recorded as a medicine in the Shen Nong Materia Medica’ — Wu et al. 2019, Fungal Diversity 98: 1-76, p. 2: the Shen Nong Materia Medica, about 2000 years old, 'recorded Ganoderma sp. (Lingzhi)' (citing Anonymous 1955). The record names the genus and the vernacular; written on the species called lingzhi and reishi by WR's ruling of 2026-10-12. William Rubel, the Taxonomy of Toxins: a species placed by our own sources -- the consumption record, the recipe table, the literature we hold -- by a recorded decision in corpus_decisions. not yet published |
| Wu et al. 2026 | ‘药用’ medicinal — entry 1154, 赤芝(灵芝) Wu F, Liu SB, Wang XH, Zhang M, Yang ZL, Dai YC (2026). 中国食药用菌物种编目 [Species cataloging of edible and medicinal fungi in China]. 菌物学报 Mycosystema 45(1): 250237. link |
| Xu et al. 2023 | ‘药用’ medicinal — Xu et al. 2023, Appendix 1, no. 184 Xu W-Q, Li Y, Li H-J, Liu D-M, Yang N, Zhang Q, He S-H (2023). 北京市大型真菌物种多样性调查与资源评价 [Species diversity and resource evaluation of macrofungi in Beijing]. 生物多样性 Biodiversity Science 31(10): 23196. link |
Notes
Added 2026-10-12 as medicinalis (WR: 'build medicinalis'): a record of human medicinal use, Wu et al. 2019, Fungal Diversity 98: 1-76, p. 2: the Shen Nong Materia Medica, about 2000 years old, 'recorded Ganoderma sp. (Lingzhi)' (citing Anonymous 1955). The record names the genus and the vernacular; written on the species called lingzhi and reishi by WR's ruling of 2026-10-12.; no record of it eaten as food. Has a medicinal use: lingzhi, recorded as a medicine in the Shen Nong Materia Medica.
Medicinal Use. Medicinal use: lingzhi, recorded as a medicine in the Shen Nong Materia Medica (Wu et al. 2019, Fungal Diversity 98: 1-76, p. 2: the Shen Nong Materia Medica, about 2000 years old, 'recorded Ganoderma sp. (Lingzhi)' (citing Anonymous 1955). The record names the genus and the vernacular; written on the species called lingzhi and reishi by WR's ruling of 2026-10-12.). Listed as medicinal: Wu et al. 2026, 药用 ‘medicinal’; Xu et al. 2023, 药用 ‘medicinal’. Recorded only as a medicine: f. cul. medicinalis.
Cite this pageRubel, William. 2026. “Ganoderma lingzhi.” Taxonomy of Toxins. Last modified 24 October 2026. https://taxonomyoftoxins.com/species/ganoderma-lingzhi/