[4][3][5] Until Murrill investigated Ganoderma in North America in 1902, previous work had focused solely on European species including, for example, G. lucidum, G. resinaceum Boud.

[12] Members of the family Ganodermataceae were traditionally considered difficult to classify because of the lack of reliable morphological characteristics, the overabundance of synonyms, and the widespread misuse of names.

Phylogenetic analysis using DNA sequence information have helped to clarify our understanding of the relationships amongst Ganoderma species.

[15][16] The genus may now be divided into six monophyletic groups:[17] With the rise of molecular phylogenies in the late 20th century, species concept hypotheses were tested to determine the relatedness amongst the nuanced morphological variabilities of the laccate Ganoderma taxa.

In 1995, Moncalvo et al constructed a phylogeny of the rDNA, which was the universally accepted locus at that time, and found five major clades of the laccate species amongst the 29 isolates tested.

[21] Nearly a century later, phylogenetic analyses vindicated Murrill's original placement, as it has shown to be a taxonomically distinct appropriate genus.

There has been significant research interest on the wood-degrading enzymes of Ganoderma species for industrial applications, such as biopulping[24][25] and bioremediation.

[28][29] Several species of Ganoderma contain diverse phytochemicals with undefined properties in vivo, such as triterpenoids and polysaccharides, an area of investigation under basic research.