Where does lingzhi (Ganoderma) generally grow?
Lingzhi, also known as "forest spirit," "qiongzhen," "ruicao" and other names, is the fruiting body of the fungus Ganoderma in the family Polyporaceae. Since ancient times it has been regarded by physicians of successive dynasties as a miraculous treasure for nourishing and strengthening the body and supporting vital energy. It has the effects of tonifying qi and calming the spirit, relieving cough and asthma, and prolonging life, and is used for dizziness and insomnia, palpitations and shortness of breath, neurasthenia, and consumptive cough and asthma, among other conditions. Now let us take a look at where lingzhi grows!
Where does lingzhi grow?
Lingzhi is a medicinal material famous in China and abroad. Those growing in forests are of the best quality and highest medicinal efficacy. It mainly grows in relatively moist places, on the base of dead trunks of various broadleaf trees and on the ground around them, with the stipe attached to underground dead tree roots and decaying wood. Today it is also grown in artificial greenhouses. About 100 or more species of fungi in the genus Ganoderma are currently known. The most widely distributed is red lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum), followed by purple lingzhi (Ganoderma sinense), and tree ear lingzhi, pine-fir lingzhi and thin tree lingzhi are also used medicinally.
Where are the producing areas of lingzhi?
Lingzhi is mainly distributed in the tropical and subtropical zones of Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas, with a few species in temperate regions. It is widely distributed in China, with some output in Zhejiang Longquan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui Huoshan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces. Among these, the lingzhi cultivation scale in Zhejiang Longquan, Anhui and the Tai'an area of Shandong is relatively concentrated.
The growing environment of lingzhi
1. Temperature: The fruiting body primordia of lingzhi can form in large numbers at 25-30°C, form less at below 22°C, and after primordia form above 34°C, nodular protrusions are very likely to develop. The cap grows faster at 28-30°C and is of better quality at 24-26°C.
2. Humidity: The lingzhi fruiting body has the characteristics of requiring high humidity and constant humidity, with a suitable relative humidity of 90-95%, and it is required that from the appearance of the primordia to the maturity of the fruiting body, the humidity should remain relatively constant.
3. Air: During the primordial stage, the lingzhi fruiting body can differentiate normally when the carbon dioxide volume fraction is less than 0.1%. When the carbon dioxide volume fraction in the air is within 0.03-0.06%, cap differentiation is faster, and when the carbon dioxide volume fraction reaches above 0.1%, it is difficult for the cap to differentiate and form.
4. Light: The lingzhi fruiting body is very sensitive to light, and both light intensity and light source direction have a great influence on the growth of the fruiting body. At an intensity of 4000-6000LX, the fruiting body develops normally. When the light is stronger, the stipe is thin and small, the cap does not differentiate, or a small and thin cap forms.
What types of lingzhi are there?
1. Qingzhi (blue lingzhi): Qingzhi is similar to Yunzhi (Coriolus versicolor). Its cap surface bears ring-arranged hairs in mixed colors such as blue, dark blue, yellow-brown, brown, white and black, which are glossy and feather-like in form. In ancient literature, its main function is mostly recorded as "improving eyesight and tonifying liver qi."
2. Chizhi (red lingzhi): Chizhi is one of the most medicinally effective types of lingzhi. It grows beside the stumps of oak and other broadleaf trees, and prefers places with dense vegetation, short light exposure, fertile surface soil, and moist, loose conditions. It is now artificially cultivated. Its medicinal part is the fruiting body.
3. Huangzhi (yellow lingzhi): Huangzhi is sulfur fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus). It grows on the trunks of living trees such as willow and spruce, and on dead standing trees. The cap surface is orange-red, orange-yellow to yellow, and yellow-white after drying. When young and tender it is edible, and it can regulate the body, improve health, and resist disease.
4. Baizhi (white lingzhi): Baizhi has white flesh, shaped like a horse's hoof, and large ones can weigh several jin. It grows singly at an altitude of 3200 m on the dead trunks of birch in pine, coniferous and broadleaf forests. It has effects such as relieving cough and upward rushing qi, benefiting lung qi, clearing the mouth and nose, strengthening the will, and calming the soul.
5. Heizhi (black lingzhi): Heizhi has a cap surface that is brown, dark brown, black-brown to black, with a long black stipe. It is distributed in Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan, Hainan, Guangxi, Tibet, China and other places, on the ground in forests and on buried wood underground, or attached to decaying wood in the soil.
6. Zizhi (purple lingzhi): Zizhi resembles lingzhi, with a semicircular cap that is reddish-brown on top, glossy and cloud-patterned, and pale yellow underneath with fine pores. The stipe is long and glossy. It grows on dead tree roots in mountainous areas. Used as medicine, it can benefit essential qi and strengthen tendons and bones. The ancients regarded it as an auspicious herb, and Daoists regarded it as an immortal herb.