Florida Reishi: How to identify Ganoderma in Florida
Florida hosts a diverse assortment of Ganoderma species due to our climate, Florida is mostly sub-tropical, and offers a lack of regulator freezes, offering almost year round opportunity for this mushroom to present it's fruiting body.
Ganoderma are polypores, developing a tough woody fruiting body, with a normally red, yellow or brown color, in the case of non-laccate Ganoderma. These fruiting bodies grow out as a shelf and may form a stipe or stem if the environmental parameters call for it. Ganoderma have a white pore surface that releases spores in periodic bursts. Ganoderma may be perennial and grow a new set of pores, as a new layer over the old, with each new season.
Most Ganoderma are Root-rot and Butt-rot sapotropic fungi, consuming dead and dying material, growing from the roots and lower portion of the tree trunk. Ganoderma aggressiveness as a pathogenic fungi varieties with its species. Ganoderma zonatum is known to infect healthy palm trees when planted in soil containing a previous G. Zonatum infection.
Most Ganoderma you will find will fall under either G. curtisii, G. sessile, G. zonatum or G. lobothum. The genus Ganoderma can sometimes be a difficult mushroom to pin to species without DNA barcoding or microscopy. Oftentimes when in the field, assessing the inner context tissue though a bi-section can be best for delineating which species you are working with. I bi-section is done by making a clean cut with a knife, laterally, cutting the mushroom in half. Most Ganoderma produce a pinkish-red color on the pore surface under UV.
Reishi is a well known effective functional mushroom for use in herbalism or supplementation in the form of teas, powders, and liquid extracts. Reishi can be consumed to improve health but due to its woody tough texture it can not be traditionally eaten, and must be consumed though some form of extraction to move the bio available compounds from the hard fruiting body into the solution, whether it's a gentle and light extraction with teas, or a more complex and broad spectrum method, normally using alcohol in addition to water or other novel methods for extraction to further increase bio-availability, constituent yield or additional constituents
Teas can be made fresh and consumed at home, as well as the dual extraction method, can be stored for much longer periods of time, as well as offering a much stronger concentration.
After harvesting, Reishi should be cut into smaller pieces and dried for storage in an air tight container. Simmering in a slow cooker or hot water for a number of hours is often recommended for stronger servings. Brewing as a tea and steeping for 10+ minutes can make a good tea before bed as well. Adding your dried Reishi bits into a food processor and blending into a psudo-powder can help make better Reishi teas as well. Reishi will not powder well but will break down into soft splinter size bits.
Reishi is commonly consumed to improve quality of sleep and bring balance to the mind as well as the body, Reishi is considered by many to be one of the most beneficial mushrooms.
Common Ganoderma
Reishi falls under the genus of Ganoderma, this genus is made up of over 200 species. Over 600 bioactive compounds are found in this genus, many with overlapping benefits, as each species has its own unique structures to their constituents. To date there is no pinpoint on the true original Reishi of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or which Ganoderma is the most beneficial.
Reishi
What is considered Reishi is separated from the rest of Ganoderma by its laccate feature, meaning it can have a shiny varnish on the top of the shelf of this mushroom.
Ganoderma curtisii
Ganoderma curtisii is also known as Golden Reishi due to its potential to have a yellow coloring, making it an easy feature to help identify. Curtisii typically will grow from the ground, from infected roots in trees, but may also appear from the butt of trees.
Typically Ganoderma curtisii can be distinguished from sessile by it's formation of a stipe, or a stem. But this is not always the case, curtisii can grow as a shelf with no stipe or as a stipated growth. This is purely influenced by the growing environment. G. curtisii often features margins that have a more blunt and rounded edge and may form a kidney shaped thicker conk.
One of the most reliable in field indicators of identifying curtisii is cutting a bi-section of the conk, and searching for melanoid bands, resembling sometimes slightly black/dark shiny tiger strips across the brown context tissue.
Ganoderma sessile
Ganoderma sessile normally grows as a red thinner fan shaped conk without a stipe or stem, but can form stipes and may even closely resemble G. curtisii. If finding “antlers” or only stipated growth with no conk forming yet, G. sessile may form a thinner more ridged stipe than the thicker smooth stipes of G. curtisii. Sessile is always a deep red color and may have a more abrupt and ridged end to its cap margin. The white growth ends of the margin can be consumed, and are often less bitter than G. curtisii.
Ganoderma zonatum
Ganoderma zonatum is often viewed in a more negative light due to its aggressiveness on palms, acting as a pathogen that infects the soil, it has caused economic harm to the palm industry here in Florida. Palms infected with G. zonatum are at risk of falling during hurricane season due to the fungus consuming the bottom interior of the palm, after a number of years the base weakens and falls under high winds.
G. zonatum grows on palms and not other hardwoods. G. zonatum rarely forms stipated growth but can do so depending on the environment. G. zonatum is the most abundant Ganoderma growing in Florida and can be easily found in peak season during the summer months. G. zonatum also has the largest size fruiting bodies, making for an excellent source of harvesting for personal use in teas or making extracts. The white outer margins of the cap can be cut or peeled off and eaten. G. zonatum is often exceptionally bitter.
G. zonatum is the easiest Ganoderma to identify in the field due to its host relationship. G. zonatum is often much less varnished in appearance than G. curtisii or G. sessile, but in the right environment it can maintain a beautiful shine before fully maturing.
Non laccate Ganoderma
Ganoderma lobothum
Ganoderma lobothum is the Florida version of “artist bracket”. The pore surface is white and functions as a canvas, when pressure is applied, dark bruising occurs and permanently stains the pore surface with clean lines from your drawing allowing you to draw pictures or messages into this fungus to be preserved and displayed for years.
G. Lobothum is differentiated by its coloration, it always grows as a brown colored bracket. Often with dark zonated concentric growth patterns along the top of the conk.
Uncommon/ less observed Ganoderma
These Ganoderma are much more rare and can use the assistance of citizen scientists to document. Most of these may be confused with G. curtisii, and without more in depth assessment and knowledge, many G. curtisii observations on databases like iNaturalist, may be some of these rare fungi. The Florida Mycological Society is highly interested in further researching these fungi and are accepting dried specimens with iNaturalist observations to further our understanding and usage of these beneficial fungi.
If these fungi are found please contact us at FloridaMycologicalSociety@gmail.com
Ganoderma subincarnatum
Recently renamed from Ganoderma martinicense, G. subincarnatum was thought to be restricted to the Caribbean islands, but can also be found in the Gulf Coast states. G. subincarnatum is best identified by cutting the mushroom in half and examining the interior context tissue. Dark cinnamon brown context tissue implies G. subincarnatum.
G. subincarnatum can highly resemble G. curtisii, it's exterior morphology can be more robust and rounded than G. Curtisii, producing thicker stipes with a conk that can form as a circle as opposed to a kidney shape like G. curtisii.
Ganoderma meredithae
Ganoderma meredithae is a separate species from curtisii that can only be identified by DNA barcoding and examining the host tree. G. meredithae grows on pines, while G. curtisii grows on hardwoods, especially Laurel Oaks.
Ganoderma ravenelii
Ganoderma ravenelii is another Ganoderma that highly resembles G. curtisii. The identification of G. ravenelii is done by examining the context tissue, the tissue will be light brown with no melanoid bands present.
Tomophagus colossus
Tomophagus colossus was originally in its own genus, then moved to Ganoderma, then back to its original genus, Tomophagus, after phylogenetic analysis. Tomophagus colossus is described as a mustard yellow color, and having a less firm, cork like texture. T. colossus is also much more stout than G. curtisii, or other Ganoderma it may resemble. While no longer in the genus of Ganoderma, it is very closely related.
Florida Mycological Society and Florida Shroom King are participating in a joint program to increase the public cultivation library with trialed strains of Florida beneficial fungi, to increase yield, common usages and bio-available compounds naturally found in these functionality beneficial fungi, while also collecting their DNA barcodes for verification. We have a special interest in the Genus Ganoderma. If you would like to send any fungi specimens for our culture bank to clone, please reach out to us at:
FloridaMycologicalSociety@gmail.com
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