Inonotus obliquus (Chaga): a mushroom threatened by commercial overharvesting ?

Chaga (Inonotus oblquus) grows slowly on beech and birch trees over many years. Chaga is a non-sporulating (non-fertile) hardened structure with a dark, cracked over-crust. Some mycologists call Chaga an above-ground sclerotium. Chaga grows on living trees, taking many years for a soft-ball size structure to form. Once the tree dies, a resupinate crust forms on the ground near the tree. This is the spore-reproducing structure. What scientists do not know is whether or not the removal of Chaga will harm the formation of the spore producing crust. We do know that wild harvesting of Chaga is radically reducing this species populations. And since we can grow mycelium -sustainably- while retaining its beneficial properties, please refrain from harvesting wild chaga for commercial purposes. Thank you. Respectfully, Paul Stamets (www.fungi.com)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Paul Stamets
• Stamets

[chilliconsultant]

Thank you so much for the freeflow of information!

[chaoslab]

As always thanks Paul. Still really want to one day to get the Mushrooms to replace Polystyrene packing in New Zealand. :-)

[kasperx01]

i was excited. 3 vids in a few days.......now im all. waaaaaaah?

i really do enjoy your work though. pls more vids

[jerryk2198]

Whats the the point of uploading the same video 3 times?

Great Video BTW!!!