The Baran mushroom earned its name due to the unusual shape of its fruiting bodies. The mushroom is named for its impressive size and abundance of wavy ("curly") caps. The fruiting body is very large, reaching 40-50 (sometimes 80) cm in diameter and weighing up to 10 kg. There is a short thick stump at the base, from which branching flattened flattened light cream-colored stalks branch off, gradually transforming into caps 4-10 cm in diameter.
Numerous caps from above have the appearance of wavy wrinkled lobes of yellowish-brown or walnut color. The lower surface is finely porous, white. Young pulp is white, fleshy and fibrous, with a pleasant odor and taste, later becoming tough and bitter. Spore powder is white; spores are broadly ellipsoidal, 5-7 x 3.5-4.5 µm.
Maitake, or as it is also called, griffola curcas, grows in broadleaf forests, preferring the understory or old stumps of oaks, maples, beeches, and chestnuts.It can be found everywhere, but it is especially abundant in Japan, and it was in Japanese medical treatises that the beneficial properties of maitake were first mentioned.
Found in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, it can be seen from mid-August to mid-September. Its colors: from gray-greenish to gray-pink shades, all depends on age and light. Sporonosny layer tubular (simply put, under the cap and on the stem, it is like a sponge). And now the most important thing, why is this unusual mushroom so valued?
Maitake has a beneficial effect on metabolism and other vital processes in our body, bringing them into harmony.
Here are just a few of its unique effects:
- Maitake extract helps patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) through its effect on carbohydrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity;
- According to research, maitake, by stimulating innate immunity, significantly improves the well-being of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disease that causes blood cells to become misshapen and unable to perform their essential functions;
- Maitake reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes;
- It effectively shows itself in the fight against excess weight, as it normalizes processes related to hormones and metabolism;
- Cures hepatitis B and C;
- Nervous disorders, migraine;
- Prophylaxis against infectious diseases.
In 2011, a study found that the D-fraction of maitake directly affects the viability of breast cancer cells and is able to cause their death. The effect was dose-dependent - the higher the dose of the mushroom extract, the faster the cancer cells died.
Interesting facts about the barnacle mushroom
There are two legends about the origin of the unusual name maitake - in Japanese it means "dancing mushroom". According to the first version, in the feudal era, maitake was paid for in silver equivalent to the weight of the mushroom, so people who were lucky enough to find this mushroom danced for joy. The second version is even more unusual: mushroom pickers of those times believed that before picking a valuable mushroom, one must perform a special ritual dance, otherwise the mushroom would lose all its miraculous properties.
The species is prohibited for collection or destruction on the territory of Russia. One of the locations is on the territory of the State Memorial and Nature Reserve "Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana Estate Museum".