Sheep Polypore (Polyporus confluens)

Abstract

The fruit body of this fungus contains grifolinone, aurovertin and albatrellin, which have been shown to have anticancer, cytotoxic, acute neurotoxic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects. P. confluens was the first cultivated mushroom by people around AD 600. After that, nearabout AD 800-900, Flammulina velutipes was cultivated in China, where the practice of mushroom cultivation has been followed for thousands of years. The Kyusuye tribe of Japan was the first mushroom cultivator in Japan and offered a shiitake mushroom to the Japanese Emperor Chuai. Humans have used mushrooms as food and medicine since ancient times. The existence of mushrooms on earth goes back to the Cretaceous period; it is believed that primitive humans consumed mushrooms before human evolution. In Islam, mushrooms are regarded as a food from Jannat. Ethanol extract from the fruiting body of P. confluens exhibits considerable anti-tumour activity. © 2023 Deepu Pandita and Anu Pandita.