so let’s talk about the birch polypore mushroom

the birch polypore is one of the 3 major medicinal mushrooms ( & one of the most common ) that grows on birch trees in birch forests ( the other 2 are the hoof fungus & the chaos mushroom ). there’s proof of centeries of uses of this single mushroom.

it’s an annual mushroom - meaning it typically only grows in june & july & will grow till the end of the year ( but once it’s too old u won’t want to harvest it anymore ).

it has powerful antiseptic, antibiotic & antiviral capabilities - its shown in multiple studies that it can target multiple viruses without negatively impacting the healthy cells ( such as cowpox & smallpox ).

it’s also anti inflammatory & can help the immune system ( whether it needs to be stimulated or if the immune system needs to slow down in cases of autoimmune diseases).

the birch polypore has anti-cancer properties too !
extracts of the mushrooms have shown to decrease & inhibit the tumor cells adhesion ( as in stopping the tumor cells from migrating & surviving in the body ).

the older the mushrooms get, the tougher & more woody it becomes & this is where it can be used as materials. when it put it into water it delaminates ( meaning the material breaks down into layers ) & it turns into a fabric called mycelium.

there’s actually hats that are made out of it, however there’s very few amount of ppl who know how to make these hats from thousands of years ago.
( this is paul stamets, he always talks about the amazing uses of this mushroom & he’s wearing one of the amadou hats ! )

it’s also a fire starter mushroom & can help carry fire for a few days !
it was what was used to ignite gunpowder back in the day !

extracts of the polypore have also shown to reduce the levels of the honey bee deformed wing virus in groups of bees, helping with the pandemic going on of the bees. studies are still being done regards to this but that’s just so amazing to me

there’s so much more amazing uses for this mushroom but that’s just a small insight into it, if y’all are more interested in learning abt it for sure look into paul stamets he talks a lot about the studies regarding bees & other uses of these mushrooms.
thanks 4 reading :)