Meshimakobu and sanghuang / sanghwang,
;

Revised Romanization Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mi ...

: ''sanghwang / sanghwangbeoseot'' also known as mesima (English) or black hoof mushroom (American English), is a

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

in East Asia.

Understanding of the concept

Etymology and association with mulberry

The Japanese name is composed of , an island of

Gotō, Nagasaki is a city in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It comprises the south-west half of the Gotō Islands plus (uninhabited) Danjo and Hizen Torishima archipelagos in the East China Sea. Although the core islands of the city lay some 100 kilometers fro ...

, where this mushroom used to grow, and , which means bump, referring to the mushroom's appearance. Per Wu et al. (2012) citing Ito (1955) and Imazeki and Hongo (1989), this is a mushroom that is always said to be on mulberry trees. The Chinese name / is composed of 桑 ("mulberry tree") and 黃 / 黄 ("yellow"). The Korean name is from Chinese.

Historical records

The earliest attestation of the name 桑黃 is in '' Yaoxing Lun''. Various Chinese historical records documented Xinzhou sanghuang (信州桑黃), in which

Xinzhou Xinzhou, ancient name Xiurong (), is a prefecture-level city occupying the north-central section of Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei to the east, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the northwest. As ...

is a place name in modern-day

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

. It was depicted with hair-like objects, apparently describing ''

Inonotus hispidus ''Inonotus hispidus'', commonly known as shaggy bracket, is a North American fungus and plant pathogen. Description The fruit bodies are generally semicircular and lumpy, measuring across. They are orangish with a lighter margin when fresh, ...

''.

Folk understandings

In Tonghua, Jilin, various mushrooms were seen as sanghuang by the locals, where it was used to treat cancer and stomach illnesses. The report described the mushrooms and attached photos, but didn't identify them by Latin names.

Associated taxons

''Phellinus linteus''

It had been long thought that this mushroom is ''Phellinus linteus'', which is a view whose earlier iteration, that this mushroom is ''Phellinus yucatanensis'', can be traced back to Japanese academic literacies in early 20th century based on specimens identified as ''Fomes yucatanensis'', later deemed a synonym of ''P. linteus''. ''Polyporus linteus'' is a species named by

Miles Joseph Berkeley Miles Joseph Berkeley (1 April 1803 – 30 July 1889) was an English cryptogamist and clergyman, and one of the founders of the science of plant pathology. Life Berkeley was born at Biggin Hall, Benefield, Northamptonshire, and educated at ...

and

Moses Ashley Curtis Moses Ashley Curtis (11 May 1808 – 10 April 1872) was a noted American botanist. Biography Curtis was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and educated at Williams College in Massachusetts. After graduating, he became a tutor for the children of ...

in 1860 with the specimen from

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. Shu Chün Teng in 1963 renamed it ''Phellinus linteus''. Dai and Xu (1998) studied specimens from various East Asian regions, and found them morphologically different from American ''Phellinus linteus''; the study concluded that ''Phellinus linteus'' is not found in East Asia. The study deemed ''Phellinus linteus'' exist in tropical America with specimens from there, and Africa with the type specimen of ''Xanthochrous rudis''. Zhou et al. (2015) examined two African specimens that morphologically fit ''X. rudis'', and their sequences formed a distinct clade from ''P. linteus''. Hence, ''X. rudis'' regained standalone taxon status and was renamed ''

Tropicoporus rudis ''Tropicoporus'' is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenochaetaceae. It was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed in 2015 with ''Tropicoporus excentrodendri'' as the type species, and six additional species transferred from ''Inonotus''. Ref ...

''. And ''Phellinus linteus'', now ''

Tropicoporus linteus ''Tropicoporus linteus'' is a tropical American mushroom. Its former name ''Phellinus linteus'' is applied wider, including to Meshimakobu, an East Asian mushroom. Taxonomy ''Polyporus linteus'' was named by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Moses Ashl ...

'', is a tropical American species. Phellinstatin is an enoyl-ACP reductase inhibitor isolated from the ''Phellinus linteus'' in East Asia.

''Phellinus igniarius''

Liu (1974) treated ''

Phellinus igniarius ''Phellinus igniarius'' (syn. ''Phellinus trivialis''), commonly known as the willow bracket, fire sponge'','' false tinder polypore, punk ash polypore, or false tinder conk, is a fungus of the family ''Hymenochaetaceae''. Like other members of t ...

'' as sanghuang.

''Sanghuangporus baumii''

''Phellinus baumii'' was the name for this mushroom seen in Dai and Xu (1998). ''Phellinus baumii'' is known as '' Sanghuangporus baumii'' from 2015 on.

''Sanghuangporus vaninii''

Xie et al. (2010) inspected sanghuang strains from various institutions with molecular methods, whose test results were analyzed by Wu et al. (2012) to contain ''Inonotus vaninii'' (formerly ''Phellinus vaninii''). This mushroom is from 2015 known as '' Sanghuangporus vaninii''.

''Sanghuangporus sanghuang''

''Inonotus sanghuang'' was seen as this mushroom in Wu et al. (2012). It only grows on mulberry trees. It was renamed '' Sanghuangporus sanghuang'' in 2015.

''Inonotus hispidus''

'' was seen as sanghuang in Bao et al. (2017). ''I. hispidus'' grows on various broad-leaf trees, including mulberry trees.

Folk medicine

There is insufficient evidence from

clinical studies Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

to indicate its use as a

prescription drug A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...

to treat cancer or any disease. In Asian

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

, the mushroom is prepared as a

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

. Its processed

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

may be sold as a

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill (pharmacy), pill, capsule (pharmacy), capsule, tablet (pharmacy), tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients eithe ...

in the form of capsules, pills or powder.

Notes

References

{{Medicinal herbs & fungi Fungus common names Medicinal fungi Fungi of Asia