Ganoderma tsugae Murrill 1902
Reishi, Ling-Chi
Reishi is native to many areas of the world, including North America.
Identification: These are “shelf mushrooms” (polypores), fungi that grow out of the sides of living or dead trees. They colonize eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) exclusively. Caps are roughly ear-shaped, 1¾–12″ (5–30 cm) across and up to 1¾″ (5 cm) thick, woody, lumpy, with a shiny red surface that gradually develops a brownish crust. The red surface may be fairly uniform, but on some specimens, the color grades from brown at the base, through red, orange, yellow and finally cream-colored at the edges. The underside is a white or light brownish color, with fine pores. Stems are 1–6″ (3–14 cm) long, or sometimes not present at all. The fungus produces a brown spore print.
Habitats: Conifers, especially hemlocks.
Edibility: Woody; not edible.
Medical: There is evidence that this mushroom contains substances that inhibit the growth of some cancers, though more research is necessary. It has long been used in Chinese herbal medicine, for asthma and autoimmune conditions.
Online References:
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 21 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2018 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3½″ (11 × 9.5 cm) 
8/30/2024 · Morse Pond Preserve, Georgetown, Maine 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 8 × 5″ (20 × 13 cm) ID is uncertain 
7/4/2010 
8/27/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 11 × 9″ (27 × 22 cm) 
8/27/2017 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Self-guided Nature Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 4″ (14 × 11 cm) 
7/7/2026 · Butler Head Preserve, Bath, Maine · ≈ 11 × 8″ (28 × 19 cm) 
10/9/2018 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts, United States 
8/21/2018 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 4 × 3½″ (10 × 8.8 cm) 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire ID is uncertain 
9/18/2017 · Purgatory Falls, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire · ≈ 4 × 3″ (10 × 8.5 cm) 
8/27/2017 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Self-guided Nature Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 8 × 9″ (20 × 23 cm) 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 3½″ (14 × 9.4 cm) ID is uncertain 
12/11/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire 
8/27/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 9″ (29 × 24 cm) 
9/23/2007 · Milford, Pennsylvania 
8/27/2017 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Self-guided Nature Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 9 × 8″ (23 × 19 cm) 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire ID is uncertain 
7/12/2015 · Bingham Falls, Smuggler’s Notch State Park, Cambridge, Vermont · ≈ 6 × 4½″ (16 × 11 cm) 
8/27/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 11 × 9″ (28 × 23 cm) 
7/12/2020 · Harraseeket Trail, Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, Freeport, Maine · ≈ 10 × 15″ (26 × 39 cm) 
On eastern hemlock. · 8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 3½″ (14 × 9.4 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/27/2017 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Self-guided Nature Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 5″ (15 × 13 cm) 
12/11/2015 · Hollis, New Hampshire, United States 
6/22/2020 · Dresden, Maine 
| Roughly 75 people in North America are poisoned each year by mushrooms, often from eating a poisonous species that resembles an edible species. Though deaths are rare, there is no cure short of a liver transplant for severe poisoning. Don’t eat any mushroom unless you are absolutely certain of its identity! Please don’t trust the identifications on this site. We aren’t mushroom experts and we haven’t focused on safely identifying edible species. |
Ganoderma tsugae description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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