Christopher Hobbs - Medicinal mushrooms: an exploration of tradition, healing & culture

Authors Disclaimer

The following recommendations are for educational and health-increasing use only and not meant to be a prescription for any disease. If you are experiencing symptoms, I always recommend contacting a qualified health practitioner or physician for a diagnosis and total health program.

The author encourages the use of human tests with oral application of natural products and whole herbal extracts as the most effective way to support the long clinical use and history of use of many herbal medicines.

Our Commitment

We at Botanica Press are dedicated in our personal and professional lives to environmental awareness. We are strongly committed to recycling, and we gladly contribute a portion of our profits to the Nature Conservancy and other conservation groups. This book is printed on recycled paper with a minimum of 10% post-consumer waste, and the entire text is printed using soy-based ink.

Etching from Esculent Funguses of England by Charles D. Badham, M.D., 1847.

Table 12

O VERVIEW OF ALL M EDICINAL M USHROOM S PECIES

Summary of Uses and Doses of Medicinal Fungi

Table 13

A RRANGED BY S PECIES

Table 14

A RRANGED BY S YMPTOM OR C ONDITION

Glossary

Alkaloids: any of a group of organic substances containing nitrogen, many of which affect the nervous system; i.e., morphine, caffeine, nicotine, etc.

Basophils: (less than 1% of total white blood cells) non-phagocytic cells that produce chemicals such as histamine; may play a role in allergic and anaphylaxis reactions

Complement: a functional sub-system of the immune system that is composed of a group of heat-sensitive proteins and their biologically active breakdown products that cause the lysis (breaking down) and destruction of antibody-coated cells, such as pathogenic bacteria

Eosinophils: have phagocytic potential (ingests antigen-antibody complexes) and play an important role in anaphylactic and allergic reactions

Erythroid: concerning progenitor cells leading to the formation of red blood cells

Granulocytes: a group of immune cells that have granules in their cytoplasm

Hemostatic: an agent that stops blood flow

Interferon: a class of small soluble proteins released by cells invaded by viruses, which cause non-infected cells to produce an antiviral protein that inhibits multiplication of the virus

i.p.: intraperitoneally; injected into the peritoneum of the abdominal cavity

Krestin: an immune stimulant extracted from Japanese Coriolus versicolor; a water-soluble, protein-bound polysaccharide

LD50, LD75: a dose that is lethal to 50% or 75% of the test animals

Leukocytes: the white blood cells, comprising all immune cells mentioned in this book

Lymphocytes: a group of cells involved in cell-mediated immunity (such as the T-helper and T-suppressor cells) and humoral immunity (such as the B-cells that produce antibodies) that play a major role in specific defenses against foreign invaders. In other words, they recognize particular chemical markers on virus-infected cells and bacteria (among others) and target their bearers for destruction.

Macrophages: