Glossary

Terms that keep coming back on labels and in our texts. Each in two or three sentences.

Content last updated: October 12, 2026.

Lion's mane

Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus, Polish: soplówka jeżowata) is a tree-growing mushroom with a white, cascading fruiting body that resembles a mane. It is one species known under three names: English, Polish and Latin. The literature describes hericenones and erinacines in it.

Reishi

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum, Chinese: ling zhi) is a tree-growing mushroom with a hard, glossy fruiting body. It has been brewed in Asia for two thousand years. The literature describes beta-glucans and triterpenes in it.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) is a mushroom with an orange, club-shaped fruiting body. It is a cultivated species, grown under controlled conditions. The literature describes cordycepin in it.

Chaga

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a fungus that forms a black, cracked sclerotium on the trunks of living birch trees. The raw material comes from that sclerotium. Chaga is not cultivated like the other species: it is harvested in birch forests.

Coriolus

Coriolus (Trametes versicolor) is a tree-growing mushroom with thin, multicoloured, fan-shaped fruiting bodies. Scientific literature describes its polysaccharides PSK and PSP.

Tremella

Tremella (Tremella fuciformis, also called silver ear) is a mushroom with a white, jelly-like fruiting body. It has been part of Chinese cooking and skincare for centuries. Its polysaccharides bind water.

Fruiting body

The fruiting body is the mature, visible part of a mushroom. It grows from the mycelium on wood or on a substrate and produces spores. On an extract label, look for whether the raw material is the fruiting body or mycelium grown on grain.

Beta-glucans

Beta-glucans are polysaccharides built from chains of glucose. They occur in the cell walls of mushrooms, in oat and barley grains, and in baker's yeast. On a mushroom extract label their content is given as a percentage.

Adaptogen

Adaptogen is a term for plants and mushrooms that tradition wove into the rhythm of everyday life. The word itself is modern, the idea is old.

Dual extract

A dual extract is an extract made with two solvents in sequence: hot water and alcohol. Water draws out water-soluble compounds, such as beta-glucans. Alcohol draws out those that dissolve in alcohol, such as triterpenes.

Ceremonial cacao

Ceremonial cacao is the whole cacao bean, ground with all of its cocoa butter, without defatting and without alkalising. It is a different raw material from ordinary cocoa powder from the shop.