Ganoderma in Central Asia: a provenance-based review of ethnomycological evidence, medicinal relevance, and occurrence records

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of Ganoderma in Central Asia is dispersed among regional literature, herbarium and voucher records, sequence repositories, biodiversity databases, and secondary accounts of vernacular terminology and medicinal relevance. These sources document different phenomena and cannot be combined uncritically as equivalent evidence of distribution, species identity, or cultural practice.

Methods: A provenance-based critical review was conducted for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Comparable searches were undertaken in Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Russian. Vernacular terms and use-related statements were classified by source geography and participant provenance; occurrence representations were linked to independent evidence units and assessed with literature, herbarium, voucher, and sequence data. Only source-supplied specimen, observation, or sampling-event coordinates were used; unresolved sampling context was displayed separately from species-occurrence evidence.

Results: No participant-based ethnobiological study of Ganoderma was identified. Uzbekistan-focused sources provided secondary Uzbek names and labelled G. adspersum and G. applanatum as medicinal, but their detailed indications and preparation statements were drawn mainly from non-Central Asian comparative literature or web sources rather than documented Uzbek practice. A Kazakhstan cadaster classified G. applanatum as medicinal without recording an indication or preparation; Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Turkmen searches mainly recovered scientific or modern commercial reishi terminology. The occurrence audit retained 62 independent evidence units from 73 raw GBIF representations plus non-GBIF sources. Seventeen independent units had source-supplied coordinates suitable for mapping. Taxonomic support was strongest for G. applanatum and for sequence-linked Uzbek G. adspersum and G. resinaceum; wild Central Asian records under G. lucidum remained unresolved without voucher-linked molecular evidence.

Conclusions: Central Asian Ganoderma knowledge is best understood as a layered and provenance-dependent evidence base rather than as a uniform regional tradition or distribution dataset. The review distinguishes regionally supported ethnomycological evidence from non-regional medicinal comparisons and commercial terminology, and separates database representations from independent, taxonomically evaluated units. The five-country scope is retained to compare documentation systems and verification needs, not to rank countries by fungal richness, abundance, or prevalence of use.

Keywords: Ganoderma; Central Asia; ethnomycology; medicinal relevance; provenance; vernacular terminology; occurrence records; voucher specimens; DNA barcoding; GBIF; reishi terminology.