“…G. lucidum and its closely related species G. sinense are suggested be used interchangeably as Lingzhi according to Chinese Pharmacopoeia. ,,, Chemical investigations on the two species of Ganoderma based on multiple analytic technologies or chemical separation have been carried out, and triterpenoids and polysaccharides were determined as the major constituents ,− of G. lucidum , while studies on G. sinense are relatively few, showing the presence of meroterpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, triterpenoids, and polysaccharides. ,− Comparing the chemical constituents from two official species of Ganoderma genus demonstrated the significant difference on type and content of triterpenoids by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array (HPLC-PDA) and high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analyses, with about 10 times higher in G. lucidum than G. sinense , and lack of common triterpenes in G. sinense . , While the similar chemical features of polysaccharides between both species were observed, , they also showed similar antitumor and immunomodulating activities . Although polysaccharides as the active principles could explain to some extent the official use of both species as Lingzhi, the influence of numerous small-molecular constituents and their different bioactivities in both species remains to be further investigated and provides a deeper explanation for their exchangeable usage in China.…”