Excellent mushroom video! My primary quibble is that the presenter considers that hemlock red varnish fungus (Ganoderma tsugae) is the medicinal reishi or ling-zhi mushroom as known in Japan and China, respectively.
In the recent past, the North American Ganoderma lucidum (on hardwoods) has been considered the medicinal equivalent to the Japanese and Chinese species. Up-to-date mycologists are now tending to consider G. lucidum as an "old-world" species only and that in North America the varnishy brown-maroon or tan one on hardwood stems or woody roots is G. sessile. The above are all quite different from the artist conk G. applanatum in that the latter has a matte-finish, not a varnished finish, to the upper side of the bracket.
Now, might the hemlock red varnish fungus be medicinal? Maybe, I expect that researchers are checking it out. Folks want to make that claim because the red hemlock fungus is common, but it is not the mushroom used in Asian medicine for the last few thousand years.
I have a few mushroom articles linked to my FS webpage, more oriented to western N.A. I should get an eastern one out, as that is where I live!
The above might be too much "inside baseball". The presenter does a good job!
