The coral mushrooms Ramaria and Clavaria

Abstract

The need to improve the quality life together with the increase in the frequency of threating diseases direct the attention of many scientists to look for potential foods as a source of nutritional and therapeutical agents. Since ancient times, several mushrooms have been reported as a nutritious food with valuable medicinal properties. The genus Ramaria and Clavaria belonging to coral fungi are a group of edible mushrooms that are distributed all over the world. The studies on different species of Ramaria and Clavaria have revealed their medicinal potentials. This review aims to present the importance of genera Ramaria and Clavaria as both food and medicine, and they offer new insights to researchers to develop new drugs and nutraceuticals.