#### Taxonomic Studies of Ganoderma  
We review 25 _Ganoderma_ species described between 1984 and 2022 in this article. The word _Ganoderma_ is derived from the Greek words \"Gano\", meaning \"shiny\", and \"derma\", meaning \"skin\" [101; 22]. Originating from the tropics and recently extending its range into temperate zones [102], _Ganoderma_ is an old genus with a taxonomic history dating back to 1881, and the Finnish mycologist P. A. Karsten erected the genus to place a single species, _Polyporus lucidus_ [=_Ganoderma lucidum_ (Curtis: Fr.) P. Karst.] [103]. _Ganoderma lucidum_ is the type species of the genus _Ganoderma_, which was originally described as from the UK and later found to have a worldwide distribution [6]. A number of _Ganoderma_ species morphologically closely related and belonging to _G. lucidum_ complex viz. _G. multipileum_ Ding Hou 1950 [104], _G. sichuanense_ J.D. Zhao & X.Q. Zhang 1983 [105] and G. lingzhi Sheng H. [106; 107] from China, _G. resinaceum_ Boud. 1889 [108] from Europe, and _G. oregonense_ Murrill 1908, _G. sessile_ Murrill 1902, _G. tsugae_ Murrill 1902 and _G. zonatum_ Murrill 1902 [109; 110] from the USA, have been described as from all over the world, and are mainly characterized by lactate pileus. Zhou et al. [111] considered 32 collections belonging to the _G. lucidum_ complex from Asia, Europe and North America in terms of their morphology and phylogeny as derived from analyses of four protein-coding genes viz. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translational elongation factor 1-\(\alpha\) (_left-\(\alpha\)_) and retinol-binding protein 1 and 2 (_rpb1_, _rpb2_). Different molecular techniques have been used to study the genetic diversity in _Ganoderma_, such as amplified fragment length polymorphism, isozyme analysis, inter simple sequence repeat, random amplified polymorphic DNA, single-nucleotide polymorphism, restricted fragment length polymorphisms, sequence-related amplified polymorphism, single-strand conformational polymorphism and sequence characterized amplified region [112]. These different molecular identifications used in different taxonomic classifications of _Ganoderma_ have caused great improvements and provide information for the further research of _Ganoderma_[18; 102; 113]. _Ganoderma_ has long been treated as one of the most important medicinal fungi worldwide [39], and lactate species of _Ganoderma_ have been considered for centuries [114], i.e., _G. lucidum_ complex have been used as medicinal mushrooms in traditional Chinese medicine [115]. Anyhow, the species concept of the _G. lucidum_ complex lacks agreement in morphology, and the taxonomy of this species complex is thus problematic, and this ultimately limits both further research on this complex and their medicinal usefulness. For example, the widely used medicinal species in biochemical and pharmaceutical studies have been assumed to be _G. lucidum_, but evidence has emerged that this medicinal species is, in fact, a different species [116] and was described as _G. lingzhi_[106]. The taxonomic position of the _G. lucidum_ complex has long been subjected to debate [9; 18; 102; 113; 117] and different opinions have been expressed regarding the members and their validity in the complex. Haddow [118] treated _G. sessile_ as a synonym of _G. resinaceum_, while Overbults [119] pointed out that _G. lucidum_ should be the correct name of the specimens classified as _G. sessile. Ganoderma lucidum_ has also been considered as the correct name over its later synonym _G. tsugae_[118; 120]. However, with the support of mating tests, Nobles [121] pointed out that the specimens classified as _G. lucidum_ in the USA represented _G. sessile._ All names of the _G. lucidum_ complex in East Africa were parsimoniously treated as the \"_G. lucidum_ group\", because of the lack of morpho-taxonomic solution to the problem in this complex [7]. Asian specimens classified as _G. lucidum_ were divided into two clades; both were separated from European _G.