The first specialist pharmacological work to record lingzhi was the ancient Chinese pharmacopoeia Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (" Shen Nong's Herbal "), believed to date from the 1st century BCE. It distinguishes six kinds of lingzhi: red, orange, blue, purple, white and black. Today, over 100 species of lingzhi are known, and they are the subject of intensive pharmaceutical research in many countries.
首次出現記錄靈芝的藥學專書，是中國最古老的藥典《神農本草經》，書中將靈芝分為赤、黃、青、紫、白、黑六種，目前已知的靈芝有一百多種，如今靈芝已成各國致力研究的藥材。