Mushrooms consist of over 12,000 species. They belong to Fungus which is one of the six kingdoms of living organisms. Early in prehistoric Europe, mushrooms were collected from the wild and were used as food for humans. Besides having high nutritional values, mushrooms are valued for their pharmacological properties. In China, mushrooms have been used as traditional Chinese medicines for thousands of years. As documented in the Chinese Pharmacopeias, over a hundred species of mushrooms are used by Chinese medicine practitioners for treating various diseases. Indeed, they are a rich source of pharmaceutical products. Nowadays, many countries are producing at industrial scale mushroom-derived medicinal products, reflecting a surge of commercial interest in these products.
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