Home / Thrive 101 / Functional mushrooms 101

Thrive 101 · Functional mushrooms

Functional mushrooms 101: Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps & Chaga

By Thrive Wellness Team, Leesburg, FL · Oct 22, 2026 · 6 min read

What "functional mushrooms" means

There's no single scientific definition. On packages and store shelves, the phrase usually means edible, non-psychedelic mushroom species that are dried, powdered or extracted and added to products like gummies and drink mixes. The functional mushrooms we carry don't contain psilocybin or muscimol. Check each product's ingredient list.

Wondering about Amanita muscaria (fly agaric)? It's a different species, and none of our mushroom products contain it. Read Amanita muscaria vs. functional mushrooms.

Lion's Mane

Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) grows on hardwood trees such as oak and beech in North America, Europe and Asia. It's easy to recognize: instead of a cap and gills, it forms a white, rounded clump of long, hanging spines that look a bit like a shaggy mane. It's also a culinary mushroom, cooked fresh and often compared in texture to seafood. In Japan it's known as yamabushitake, and it has long been eaten and used in East Asian traditions.

Reishi

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum and close relatives) is a woody, shelf-shaped mushroom with a shiny, lacquered-looking reddish-brown cap. It grows on hardwood logs and stumps. In China it's called lingzhi, and it appears in Chinese and Japanese art and writing going back many centuries. Reishi is too tough and bitter to cook like a table mushroom, so it's traditionally sliced and simmered as tea or ground into powder. None of the products on our shelves right now list Reishi as an ingredient.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps is a group of fungi. The best-known wild species, now called Ophiocordyceps sinensis, grows on caterpillar larvae in the high grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, and it has been gathered and traded there for centuries. Because the wild kind is rare and costly, most Cordyceps in products today is Cordyceps militaris, a related species with bright orange fruiting bodies that can be cultivated. On our shelves, the Lift Off Mushroom Drink Mix ingredient list names "Cordyceps militaris (fruiting body) extract," and the Lift Off 3-piece gummy pouches list "cordyceps and chaga extracts."

Chaga

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) grows mostly on birch trees in cold northern forests across Russia, Scandinavia, Canada and the northern United States. It doesn't look like a typical mushroom at all: the part that's harvested is a hard, black, cracked mass on the outside of the trunk, orange-brown inside. In Russia and other northern countries it has been brewed as a tea for generations.

Fruiting body vs. mycelium

A mushroom has two main parts, and labels often say which one was used:

• Fruiting body: the part above ground or on the tree, the "mushroom" you'd recognize.
• Mycelium: the root-like network of threads that the fruiting body grows from. Mycelium is often grown on grain such as oats or rice, so a mycelium product may also contain some of that grain, sometimes listed as "myceliated grain."

Neither term tells you how much of anything is in the product. It just tells you what was used. If a label doesn't say, ask the brand or ask us to check.

How to read a mushroom product label

• Species name: look for the common name, and ideally the Latin name, such as Hericium erinaceus.
• Part used: fruiting body, mycelium or both.
• Extract or powder: an extract has been processed, often with hot water or alcohol. Some labels show a ratio like 8:1, meaning 8 parts of dried mushroom made 1 part of extract.
• Amount per serving: mg of mushroom extract per gummy, scoop or stick pack, plus the number of servings.
• "Proprietary blend": the brand lists the ingredients but not the amount of each one.
• The full ingredient list: everything else, from sweeteners to flavors.

For example, the Amaris Mushroom Gummies list "lion's mane extract" and a "proprietary blend of natural mushroom extracts including lion's mane," at 250 mg of mushroom extract per gummy. The Lift Off 8-piece gummies list a "proprietary natural mushroom extract" without naming the species, so we don't name one either. We only describe a product as containing a mushroom when that mushroom is on its label.

Shopping for mushroom products at Thrive

You'll find mushroom gummies and drink mixes in our Functional Mushrooms category. Each product page shows the ingredient list, serving size and batch details, and batch lab reports are on our Lab reports page. If you take medication or have a health condition, talk with your doctor before trying any new product.