INTRODUCTION
Fungal or mushrooms based products have been used by several
civilization from centuries for medicinal purposes. Active molecules
derived from mushrooms have found to be of great medicinal
value, infact one of the major advances in antibiotics came
after discovery of penicillin from Penicillium Rubens. Since then
several biologically active molecules have been synthesized from
these medicinal mushrooms. One of the oldest medicinal mushrooms
is Ganoderma lucidum, which has longest history of use,
as the Japanese name indicates- Mannentake or Reishi, which
means 10,000 years mushroom. In China, Ganoderma Lucidum,
also known as Lingzhi is regarded as herb of spiritual potency,
and is associated with longevity, health and spiritual power.
Usually all the parts of Reishi mushroom are regarded as medicinal
and hence use of its fruiting body, spores and mycelia are common.
Application of Reishi mushroom has been found in variety
of forms such as infused tea, supplements, powder etc. In this
review we look at some of the traditional application of Ganoderma
as oral supplement and also its potential Cosmeceutical
applications.
HABITAT