Reishi Mushroom (Lingzhi): The 'Mushroom of Immortality', Explained
One of China's most loved folktales, the Legend of the White Snake, turns on a mushroom.
Bai Suzhen is a white snake spirit who, after a thousand years of spiritual practice, takes human form and marries a gentle young man named Xu Xian. During the Dragon Boat Festival, she's tricked into drinking realgar wine and briefly reverts to her true form. Xu Xian sees a giant white serpent in his bed and dies of fright. Desperate, Bai Suzhen flies to the sacred Kunlun Mountains, slips past their heavenly guardians, and steals the one thing that can bring him back: lingzhi, the mushroom of immortality.
It's a measure of how revered this mushroom is that, in one of China's Four Great Folktales, it's the thing worth risking everything for. Its name says as much. Ling (灵) carries the sense of spirit or divine power, and zhi (芝) means mushroom, so lingzhi is often translated as the "spirit mushroom". In the West we mostly know it by its Japanese name: reishi.
The real mushroom looks the part. It doesn't have the soft cap of a button mushroom. Instead, it's a hard, woody, kidney-shaped bracket with a deep red-brown surface so glossy it looks as if it's been varnished. It's also intensely bitter. Nobody has ever cooked reishi for its flavour. It has always been about something else.
What is reishi used for?
A tonic with a very long pedigree
Lingzhi appears in the Shennong Bencao Jing, one of China's oldest surviving herbal texts, which described six different types of lingzhi distinguished by colour. It was placed among the most highly regarded "superior" herbs: substances thought to be gentle enough to take over long periods, and associated with long life and wellbeing rather than the treatment of specific complaints.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, reishi is traditionally described as tonifying Qi, the body's vital energy, and calming the Shen, the spirit or mind. That pairing is what makes it unusual. Many tonics are associated with building you up; reishi is associated with building you up and settling you down. It's why it has long been taken as part of a calm, steady daily routine, and why it suits the evening so well.
What's inside the mushroom
Reishi's reputation rests on two main groups of compounds:
- Triterpenes: including a family called ganoderic acids, which are responsible for reishi's famous bitterness.
- Polysaccharides: especially beta-glucans, complex carbohydrates found in many medicinal mushrooms.
Researchers have studied both groups extensively in the laboratory. Human research is more limited and much of it has been carried out in specific patient groups, so it doesn't tell us much about what reishi does as part of an everyday routine for healthy people. That's partly why reishi's appeal remains rooted in its traditional role as a long-term, calming tonic.
A mushroom with a surprising identity twist
Here's something most reishi sellers won't tell you. The scientific name usually printed on reishi products, Ganoderma lucidum, was originally given to a mushroom found in England in the 18th century. For a long time, everyone assumed the Asian lingzhi was the same species.
It isn't. In 2012, Chinese researchers showed that the lingzhi widely cultivated in China is genetically distinct from the European mushroom, and it's now often classified as Ganoderma lingzhi. When US researchers DNA-tested 20 commercial reishi products, 93% turned out to be Ganoderma lingzhi, whatever their labels said. So the reishi in supplements today is, almost always, the Asian mushroom of the old texts, not the English one whose name it borrowed.
Why we chose reishi for QiMycology
Qi Harmony is our evening blend, and reishi is its mushroom heart.
It's the mushroom TCM associates with calm. For a mushroom brand rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, reishi was the natural choice to anchor an evening blend. No other mushroom in the Chinese tradition is so closely associated with steadying the mind and spirit.
It plays the long game. Each ingredient in Harmony has a distinct role. Suan Zao Ren, the sour jujube seed, is TCM's classic herb for the night itself. Ashwagandha comes from India's Ayurvedic tradition, where it's often taken in the evening. Reishi is the steady, long-term tonic underneath both, traditionally taken consistently over time rather than for a quick effect.
It gets equal billing. Reishi is in Harmony at 1,200 mg per serving, level with Suan Zao Ren as the largest ingredient in the blend. We wanted the mushroom at the centre of the formula to be there in a meaningful amount.
That's the logic of a blend rather than a single-mushroom pouch. Traditional herbalism, Chinese and Ayurvedic alike, has always combined ingredients so each one complements the others. Harmony brings a mushroom, a seed and a root together, each doing its own job, for one calm evening ritual.
What studies in people have found
There are human trials of reishi, but most are small and many are of limited quality. One example of where the evidence stands: a 2015 Cochrane review (Klupp and colleagues) looked at five randomised trials involving 398 people with type 2 diabetes. It found that the evidence did not support using reishi for heart-health risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and that there wasn't enough information to judge its safety properly.
That's typical of reishi research: a lot of interest, a lot of laboratory work, and not many large, well-run trials in people.
What isn't known yet
- Which species, part of the fungus, preparation and amount (if any) would matter in people.
- What long-term use looks like in well-designed trials.
- Whether results from one reishi product apply to another, given how much products differ.
Safety
Reported side effects include nausea, diarrhoea and, rarely, liver problems. Reishi may increase the risk of bleeding in people taking blood-thinning or antiplatelet medicines, and may add to the effects of medicines for blood pressure or blood sugar. There's no reliable information on use during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Comparing reishi products
- Species. Is there a Latin name? Given the naming debate, it's a useful sign the brand knows what it's using.
- Part used. Fruiting body, mycelium or both? If mycelium, what was it grown on? Our supplier has confirmed our reishi extract comes from the fruiting body.
- Extract or powder. Hot water, alcohol or both? That decides whether you get more polysaccharides, more triterpenes, or both.
- Amount per serving. Compare per serving, not per pack.
- Safety labelling. Look for clear warnings about pregnancy, breastfeeding and medication.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between reishi and lingzhi? None: they're the same mushroom. Lingzhi is the Chinese name and reishi is the Japanese name, which is the one most used in the UK and US.
Can you eat reishi like other mushrooms? Not really. It's hard, woody and very bitter. Traditionally it's sliced and simmered into teas and decoctions, and today it's most often taken as a powder or extract.
Why does reishi taste so bitter? The bitterness comes from its triterpenes, especially ganoderic acids. They're among the compounds researchers find most interesting about the mushroom.
Is reishi Ganoderma lucidum or Ganoderma lingzhi? The name Ganoderma lucidum is still widely used, but DNA research shows that most reishi grown in Asia and sold in supplements is Ganoderma lingzhi, a distinct Asian species. The European G. lucidum is a different mushroom.
Why take reishi in the evening? In TCM, reishi is traditionally associated with calming the mind as well as nourishing the body, which makes it a natural fit for winding down. Always follow the directions on your product's label.
Is reishi suitable for everyone? Avoid it if you're allergic to mushrooms. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, have a medical condition, are due to have surgery, or take any regular medication (particularly for blood pressure, blood sugar or blood thinning), check with your GP or pharmacist first.
Qi Harmony contains ashwagandha. The UK Food Standards Agency advises pregnant women and people with existing liver conditions to avoid ashwagandha supplements (FSA advice). We don't recommend Qi Harmony while breastfeeding or for under-18s. If you take medication or have a thyroid or autoimmune condition, check with your GP or pharmacist first.
The mushroom worth stealing
Reishi has spent two thousand years as China's most celebrated mushroom: recorded in its oldest herbal texts, stolen by a snake spirit in its best-loved folktale, and studied in laboratories around the world today. It has even turned out to have a more interesting scientific identity than anyone expected.
In Qi Harmony, our evening blend, it takes centre stage. Each serving contains 1,200 mg of Reishi, alongside 1,200 mg of Suan Zao Ren and 600 mg of Ashwagandha, bringing together TCM's most revered calming mushroom, its classic evening seed and Ayurveda's best-known adaptogen.