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Lingzhi ( Ganoderma sichuanense), also known as reishi, is a ("bracket fungus") native to belonging to the genus .

Its reddish brown, varnished, kidney-shaped cap with bands and peripherally inserted stem give it a distinct -like appearance. When fresh, the lingzhi is soft, cork-like, and flat. It lacks gills on its underside, and instead releases its via fine pores (80–120 μm) in yellow colors.

In nature, it grows at the base and stumps of , especially . Only two or three out of 10,000 such trees will have lingzhi growth, and therefore its wild form is rare. Lingzhi may be cultivated on logs, , or .

The lingzhi mushroom is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Taxonomy
Lingzhi, also known as reishi from its Japanese pronunciation, is the ancient "mushroom of immortality", revered for over 2,000 years (with some evidence suggesting use in Neolithic China 6,800 years ago). However, as of 2023 there is an ongoing debate on which one of the described Ganoderma species is the true lingzhi mushroom. It is also likely that a few similar Ganoderma species were considered interchangeable.

In the scientific literature, the lingzhi mushroom is ambiguously referred to as:

  • Ganoderma sichuanense — the currently accepted name, described by Zhao and Zhang (1983).
  • Ganoderma lingzhi — described by Cao et al. (2012) as a novel species that may be the best fit for traditional definitions of the lingzhi mushroom. However, Du et al. (2023) found that it is the same species as G. sichuanense, so it is now treated as a later synonym.
  • Ganoderma lucidum — the type species of Ganoderma was first described in 1781 by Curtis as Boletus lucidus based on European collections. In 1881 Karst designated it as the type species of his new genus Ganoderma, as Ganoderma lucidum. Early literature used G. lucidum for collections from China, but it was later established that Asian populations are distinct from European, both morphologically and phylogenetically. As the lingzhi fungus is strongly rooted in culture, the old name persists, even though it is well established that G. sichuanense and G. lucidum are distinct species.

One source employed to solve the task of identifying the traditional lingzhi mushroom is the 16th century Chinese herbal compendium, the (1578). There, a number of different lingzhi-like mushrooms defined by color were used for different purposes. No exact current species can be attached to these ancient lingzhi for certain, but according to Dai et al. (2017), as well as other researchers, and based on molecular work, red lingzhi is most likely to be Ganoderma sichuanense.

Ganoderma sichuanense is the most widely found species in Chinese herb shops today, and the fruiting bodies are widely cultivated in China and shipped to many other countries. About 7–10 other Ganoderma species are also sold in some shops, but have different Chinese and Latin names, and are considered different in their activity and functions. The differences are based on concentrations of such as and its derivatives, which vary widely among species. Research on the genus is ongoing, but a number of recent phylogenetic analyses have been published in recent years.

Nomenclature
Petter Adolf Karsten first described the genus in 1881,. He designated as its type species a European fungus named Boletus lucidus by English botanist in 1781. Since then, many other Ganoderma species have been described.

The lingzhi's have Greek and Latin roots. Ganoderma derives from the (γανος; ), and (δερμα; ).

(1980). 9780199102075, Oxford University Press.
The specific epithet, sichuanense, comes from the Chinese province. The common name, lingzhi, comes from , meaning .

Varieties
It was once thought that G. lingzhi generally occurred in two growth forms: a large, sessile, specimen with a small or nonexistent stalk, found in North America, and a smaller specimen with a long, narrow stalk, found mainly in the tropics. However, recent molecular evidence has identified the former, stalkless, form as a distinct species called G. sessile, a name given to North American specimens by William Alfonso Murrill in 1902.

Environmental conditions play a substantial role in the lingzhi's manifest morphological characteristics. For example, elevated levels result in stem in lingzhi. Other formations include antlers without a cap, which may also be related to carbon dioxide levels. The three main factors that influence fruit body development morphology are light, temperature, and humidity. While water and air quality play a role in fruit body development morphology, they do so to a lesser degree.

Distribution and habitat
Ganoderma lingzhi is found in growing as a or on a variety of trees. Ganoderma curtisii and Ganoderma ravenelii are the closest relatives of the lingzhi mushroom in North America.

In the wild, lingzhi grows at the base and stumps of deciduous trees, especially . Only two or three out of 10,000 such aged trees will have lingzhi growth, and therefore it is extremely rare in its natural form. Today, lingzhi is effectively cultivated on hardwood logs or sawdust/woodchips.

Uses
Phytochemistry
Ganoderma lucidum contains diverse , including (), which have a molecular structure similar to that of . It also contains phytochemicals found in fungal materials, including (such as ), , , and . isolated from the mushroom include , , , ganodermanontriol, , and .

Folk medicine
Because of its bitter taste,
(2025). 9781493026692, .
lingzhi is traditionally prepared as a hot water extract product for use in folk medicine. Thinly sliced or pulverized lingzhi (either fresh or dried) is added to boiling water which is then reduced to a simmer, covered, and left for 2 hours.
(2025). 9781439807132, /Taylor & Francis.
The resulting liquid is dark and fairly bitter in taste. The red lingzhi is often more bitter than the black. The process is sometimes repeated to increase the concentration. Alternatively, it can be used as an ingredient in a formula , or used to make an extract (in liquid, capsule, or powder form).

Other uses
Lingzhi is commercially manufactured and sold. Since the early 1970s, most lingzhi is cultivated. Lingzhi can grow on substrates such as sawdust, grain, and wood logs. After formation of the fruiting body, lingzhi is most commonly harvested, dried, ground, and processed into tablets or capsules to be directly ingested or made into tea or soup. Other lingzhi products include processed fungal mycelia or spores. Lingzhi is also used to create bricks.

Cultural significance
In the chronicles of (1st century CE from ), the initial use of nearby separately related words with label=none and label=none are attested to in the poems of Emperor Wu of Han. Later, in the 1st century CE through the poetry of , occurred the first combination of the characters 靈芝 together into a single word, in an dedicated to Lingzhi. Философско-эстетический смысл так называемого «божественного гриба» («линчжи») в искусстве Китая // Научные сообщения Государственного музея искусства народов Востока // М.: Наука, 1977. — Вып. 9. — С. 40—46.Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality / Wasson R. G. // New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972. — P. 85. — P. 89.

Since ancient times, Taoist temples were called "the abode of mushrooms" and according to their mystical teachings, the use of woody mushrooms (Ganoderma) or "spirits mushroom", in particular making from it a concentrated decoction of action, gave followers the opportunity to see spirits or become spirits themselves by receiving the magical energy of the immortals , located on the "fields of grace" in the heavenly "mushroom fields" ().Китай: колокольца в пыли. Странствия мага и интеллектуала// М.: Алетейа, 2005. — 376 с. — ISBN 5-98639-025-3 — С. 74, 356, 367.

In the philosophical work , it is said that the lingzhi mushroom is personification of nobility; from which shamans brewed a psychedelic drink.Философы из Хуайнани. Хуайнаньцзы / Пер. Л. Е. Померанцевой. Сост. И. В. Ушаков // М: Мысль, 2004. — 430 с. — — С. 267. « Шаманок (Ушань) — гора в пров. Сычуань. Из гриба цзычжи (другое название — линчжи) мудрецы делали дурманящий напиток. О дереве гаося аналогичных сведений как будто нет. Комментарий говорит, что это высокое дерево с плотной шелковистой древесиной белого цвета и что гаося и цзычжи символы благородства, а чернобыльники и полынь — символы ничтожества.» — С. 50: «На горе Шаманок послушны ветру и покорны огню как дерево гаося и гриб цзычжи, так и чернобыльник и полынь все погибают вместе.»Поздние даосы о природе, обществе и искусстве («Хуайнаньцзы» — II в. до н. э.) / Померанцева Л. Е. // М.: Издательство Московского университета, 1979. — 240 с. — С. 145, 220.

The ( Divine Farmer's Classic of Pharmaceutics) of classifies into six color categories, each of which is believed to benefit the , or "life force", in a different part of the body: (青芝; ) for the liver, (赤芝; ) for the heart, (黃芝; ) for the spleen, (白芝; ) for the lungs, (黑芝; ) for the kidneys, and (紫芝; ) for the Essence. Commentators identify the red , or (丹芝; ), as the lingzhi.

In the Taoist treatise of from , the lingzhi is used for immortality. Li Bo Unkempt / Kidder Smith, Mike Zhai // , 2021. — ; . — pp. 137, 405. / Lu Di // «East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine», № 37 (2013)/2014: 36-68. Traditional uses, chemical components and pharmacological activities of the genus Ganoderma P. Karst.: a review / Li Wang, Jie-qing Li, Ji Zhang, Zhi-min Li,b Hong-gao Liu, Yuan-zhong Wang // : Issue 69, 2020.

The (1596) ( Compendium of Materia Medica) has a (芝) category that includes six types of (calling the green, red, yellow, white, black, and purple mushrooms of the the liuzhi (六芝; "six mushrooms") and sixteen other fungi, mushrooms, and lichens, including mu'er (木耳; "wood ear"; "cloud ear fungus", Auricularia auricula-judae). The author classified these six differently colored zhi as xiancao (仙草; "immortality herbs"), and described the effects of chizhi ("red mushroom"):

Chinese herbology describes the zhi.

The Bencao Gangmu does not list lingzhi as a variety of zhi, but as an alternate name for the shi'er (石耳; "stone ear", Umbilicaria esculenta) lichen. According to Stuart and Smith,

In , the lingzhi symbolizes great health and longevity, as depicted in the imperial and . It was a for luck in the traditional culture of China, and the goddess of healing is sometimes depicted holding a lingzhi mushroom.

Regional names
Chinese
The name for lingzhi 靈芝 was first recorded during the (206 BC – 9 AD). In the , (靈芝) is a compound. It comprises (靈); "spirit, spiritual; soul; miraculous; sacred; divine; mysterious; efficacious; effective)" as, for example, in the name of the Lingyan Temple in , and (芝); "(traditional) plant of longevity; fungus; seed; branch; mushroom; excrescence"). Fabrizio Pregadio notes, "The term zhi, which has no equivalent in Western languages, refers to a variety of supermundane substances often described as plants, fungi, or 'excrescences'."
(2025). 9780203695487, Routledge. .
Zhi occurs in other Chinese plant names, such as (芝麻; "sesame" or "seed"), and was anciently used a phonetic loan character for (芷; " iris"). Chinese differentiates Ganoderma species into (赤芝; "red mushroom") G. lingzhi, and (紫芝; "purple mushroom") Ganoderma sinense.

Lingzhi has several . Of these, (瑞草; "auspicious plant") ( 瑞; "auspicious; felicitous omen" with the suffix 草; "plant; herb") is the oldest; the dictionary (c. 3rd century BCE) defines 苬, interpreted as a of (菌; "mushroom") as (芝; "mushroom"), and the commentary of (276–324) says, "The zhi flowers three times in one year. It is a ruicao felicitous plant." Other Chinese names for Ganoderma include (瑞芝; "auspicious mushroom"), (神芝; "divine mushroom", with shen; "spirit; god' supernatural; divine"), (木靈芝) (with "tree; wood"), (仙草; "immortality plant", with xian; "(Daoism) transcendent; immortal; wizard"), and (靈芝草) or (芝草; "mushroom plant").

Since both Chinese ling and zhi have multiple meanings, lingzhi has diverse English translations. Renditions include "zhi possessed of soul power", "Herb of Spiritual Potency" or "Mushroom of Immortality",

(1986). 9780898151695, Ten Speed Press. .
"Numinous Mushroom", "divine mushroom",
(2025). 9789629962296, Chinese University Press. .
"divine fungus",
(1994). 9780521374828, Cambridge University Press. .
"Magic Fungus",
(1996). 9780691021263, Princeton University Press. .
and "Marvelous Fungus".

English
In English, lingzhi or ling chih (sometimes spelled " ling chi", using the French EFEO Chinese transcription) is a Chinese loanword. It is also commonly referred to as " reishi", which is loaned from Japanese.
(2025). 9781556439537, North Atlantic Books.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives the definition, "The fungus Ganoderma lucidum (actually Ganoderma lingzhi (see Ganoderma lucidum for details), believed in China to confer longevity and used as a symbol of this on Chinese ceramic ware.", and identifies the of the word as Chinese: líng, "divine" + zhī, "fungus". According to the OED, the earliest recorded usage of the Wade–Giles romanization ling chih is 1904, (Victoria and Albert Museum); This context describes the lingzhi fungus and ruyi scepter as Daoist symbols of longevity on a jade vase. and of the lingzhi is 1980.

In addition to the transliterated loanwords, English names include "glossy ganoderma" and "shiny polyporus".

Japanese
The Japanese word (霊芝) is a Sino-Japanese loanword deriving from the Chinese (灵芝; 靈芝). Its modern Japanese , 霊, is the ("new character form") of the kyūjitai ("old character form"), 靈. Synonyms for reishi are divided between Sino-Japanese borrowings and native Japanese coinages. Sinitic loanwords include literary terms such as (瑞草, from ; "auspicious plant") and (仙草, from ; "immortality plant"). The Japanese writing system uses or (芝) for "grass; lawn; turf", and take or (茸) for "mushroom" (e.g., ). A common native Japanese name is (万年茸; "10,000-year mushroom"). Other Japanese terms for reishi include (門出茸; "departure mushroom"), (聖茸; "sage mushroom"), and (孫杓子; "grandchild ladle").

Korean
The name, () is also borrowed from, so a with, the Chinese word (灵芝; 靈芝). It is often called yeongjibeoseot (영지버섯; " yeongji mushroom") in Korean, with the addition of the native word (버섯) meaning "mushroom". Other common names include (; "elixir grass") and (). According to color, yeongji mushrooms can be classified as () for "red", () for "purple", () for "black", () for "blue" or "green", () for "white", and () for "yellow". South Korea produces over 25,000 tons of mushrooms every year.

Thai
The word (เห็ดหลินจือ) is a compound of the native word (เห็ด) meaning "mushroom" and the loanword (หลินจือ) from the Chinese (灵芝; 靈芝).

Vietnamese
The Vietnamese language word linh chi is a loanword from Chinese. It is often used with nấm, the Vietnamese word for "mushroom", thus nấm linh chi is the equivalent of "lingzhi mushroom".

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