The Rising Attraction Of Medicinal Mushrooms

In the last ten years or so there have been numerous articles written about the medicinal mushroom varieties and the healing properties that they possess. Not that many years ago there were only a few mushroom products available, yet today there are literally dozens. If you consider that the reishi mushroom has a history of use in the Orient that spans thousands of years and is revered as much as ginseng, then it is no wonder why it is finally becoming more popular in other cultures as well.

The history of mushrooms demonstrates that several of the earliest observed uses were as cures for intestinal parasites, and also being utilized to stop bleeding and for cauterizing open sores. The species used were polypores, so named because they have pores instead of gills under the heads. No known varieties of polypore are toxic and they are usually found to grow on trees, both alive and dead.

Most of the polypores are inedible, as they are very fibrous and woody. However, when used as a medicinal mushroom, in the form of poultices, extracts and teas, the uses are very beneficial.

Native American traditions speak of utilizing the different varieties of fungi to battle diseases like smallpox and others that showed up along with the arrival of Europeans. These comprise varieties like the turkey tail, chaga and reishi, together with the agarikon, which is nowadays very rare and in danger of extinction. The agarikon is the oldest of the organic mushrooms used as medicine in historic European writings. Way back in 65 B.C., a Greek physician named Dioscorides noted the variety in the Materia Medica as a natural cure utilized to combat tuberculosis. In more recent times, an article was published stating that agarikon tea was traditionally used in Polish medicine for such things as and elixir for long life, for lung diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and to help stop blood loss and to sanitize wounds.

There are three main species of mushrooms from Asia that are mentioned in almost all of the Chinese writings on mushrooms that you could read. The first one is the shiitake mushroom. It is one of the most widely researched of mushrooms and has been used for about a thousand years as an immune system booster. The next medicinal mushroom is the cordyceps and it is used as an aphrodisiac, as well as to aid in the physical prowess of athletes. Finally there is the reishi, which is known for bestowing immortality in China and Japan.