Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Reishi Mushrooms Gonderma Lucidum ; Ling zhi ; Gano Coffee

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.

Coffee Mushrooms mushroomz

Coffee 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 traditionalists were constantly searching for the elixir of eternal youth believing Reishi was one of the leading 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 of use and success has sparked interest in the West. Herbalists regularly use Reishi to treat diverse problems such as allergies, chronic Fatigue Syndrome, diabetes, liver diseases and many immune-related diseases.