Tinder Fungus Trees And Habitats Part 3 of 5 Eastern hemlock and Reishi

Link to tinder fungus demo vid: http://youtu.be/-WyrVE2sDOU
Link to Balsam Fir and Hemlock vid: http://youtu.be/V6TXWp2oS1A
Link to part 4: http://youtu.be/YVmwjzO7tnA
Mushroom playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL122A6E3339A70090

Ganoderma tsugae is a medicinal mushroom that can also be used as tinder for fire starting. It's most commonly known as Reishi. This is part 3 of a 5 part series showing a few different trees and forest types that host certain tinder fungus and medicinal fungi. Detailed photos of the fungi and tree features are included wherever possible to aid in identification, their use as tinder is demonstrated in the link above.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tinder
• fungus
• medicinal
• fungi
• otzi
• primitive
• fire
• starting
• ganoderma
• tsugae
• reishi
• tea
• tincture
• ling
• chi
• ling chih
• ling zhi
• ember
• coal
• extender
• tinder fungus
• false tinder fungus
• chaga
• horses
• hoof
• miwilderness
• self
• reliance
• bushcraft
• survival
• woodsmanship
• eatern
• hemlock
• balsam
• fir
• tree identification
• tree id
• mushroom id
• mushroom identification
• hunter
• gatherer
• Survival Skills
• Chih
• Camping
• Green
• Tree
• Garden
• Mushroom
• outdoor sports

[Prepare2Survive]

Where you find hemlock you tend to find water near by too. There's a lot of hemlock around here, but I never knew reishi grew on it. I have a lot of chaga for tea, but I wouldn't mind also trying some reishi tea. I heard from bushcraftbartons that chaga sometimes grows on maple and recently I've found something that looks like chaga very high up on about 5 or 6 maples, but I could be wrong and it's probably just a burl. Your camera shots remind me of watching ghostkamo videos.

[MiWilderness]

@Prepare2Survive But, if you got hemlocks I'd say it's likely you have Reishi, especially in logged areas, even areas that were logged long ago. That's where I find the most, but they aren't local. ghostkamo makes good vids. Chaga can grow on a lot of deciduous trees, but for medicinal chaga white birch is supposedly the best as it's the betulinic acid found in birch that provides most of the medicinal qualities "from what I've read."

[onebadboy2]

Looking forward to the next one too. Please talk about the difference between Aspen and Birch. I understand that Birch isn't typical in Wyoming, but have been looking to find some chaga and can't decifer between the two trees (especially now that it's wintertime). I did find some sort of fungus growing on what I believe are Apsen here, so I look forward to the next one too. Thanks for the excellent walk through the forest. It's really helpful to me. Talk to you soon. 

[BornRandy62]

@onebadboy2 Birch and Aspen has many similarities. The leaves both turn bright yellow in the autumn. They also share many of the same favorite growing conditions. The biggest visual differences are that Birch bark tends to peel and curl up from the surface. Aspen remains a solid sheet. Both trees put out suckers from the roots. The birch tree suckers will grow out immediately from the base of the tree while the Aspen will sprout out from along a section of underground root.

[MiWilderness]

@BornRandy62 Thanks!

[MiWilderness]

@onebadboy2 I personally don't see many similarities between the two, mainly because of the curling bark of birch like BornRandy62 mentioned. I mainly distinguish them from their bark alone, and haven't had to go further. But, I'll have to think about this one a bit.

[Prepare2Survive]

@MiWilderness

There's no logging done in the forests that I hike in though. I found some chaga on a white birch, but I gave it to a friend. The stuff I use for tea and later as a coal extender was from a yellow birch. I made a video showing it. watch?v=kVBEd5KrP6s

[MiWilderness]

@crazywhitedog78 I need to go collect some as I plan on making some "primitive" tools and need it for pitch.

[MiWilderness]

@Quasar502 You're welcome!

[MiWilderness]

@MrJoeyBoombotz You're welcome!

[MiWilderness]

@stuzapusa You're welcome! We have a lot of micro-habitats and micro-climates here where I live and a wide variety of plants and such that depend on them. I once sat on a pier in 20 F temps to walk inland where it was in the 60's. I think the lakes have a big effect on things. The glaciers have really stireed things up too. I would like to learn more about geology and get a better understanding of how it affects these habitats. Thanks!

[Quasar502]

Look forward to your walks and rambles. Thks

[crazywhitedog78]

Thank you for posting this. I find these very interesting and informative. Since you were talking pine in this video you reminded me of collecting pine resin.