A Novel Explanation for the Prominence of the Peach in Daoist Iconography

This paper draws on chinese folklore, chinese medical theory, chinese materia medica and western ethnobotany and comparative religion to construct a theory of how the common infestation of ganoderma lucidum on peach trees in China would have led to an association of peach trees with immortality, daoist alchemy and the ability to vanquish ghosts and evil spirits. The author goes on to demonstrate how the importance of ganoderma lucidum with regard to immortality, alchemy and exorcism can be understood through an analysis of the pathophysiological basis of ghost haunting and daoist inner alchemy and the corresponding pharmacological benefit that the fungus confers in relation to these pathophysiologies.