Lion’s Mane mushroom is highly prized in Chinese Traditional Medicine, where it has been used to treat the disorders of the digestive tract such as stomach and duodenal ulcers. Recent scientific studies suggest the mushroom offers some incredible benefits to the brain and nervous system. Central to the mushroom’s neuro-protective benefits is its unique ability to increase Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) levels as first discovered by Dr. Hirokazu Kawagishi of Shizuoka University in Japan [1].

Yamabushitake, or Lion’s mane mushroom, is definitely not your classic cap and stem variety of mushroom. It has a rather distinctive appearance with long cascading white spines, kind of resembling a Lion’s Mane. It is also known by other names – Satyr’s beard, Hedgehog mushroom, Bearded hedgehog, Pom Pom and of course in Japanese it is called Yamabushitake (which literally means ‘mountain priest mushroom’).