Grifola frondosa - Hen of the Woods

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Polyporales

Commonly referred to as Hen of the Woods, the fruitbody of Grifola frondosa is relatively short-lived compared with most polypores. It is usually found at the base of an oak tree. This fungus attacks living trees and causes a white rot, and it smells unpleasantly sickly when it is decaying.

Although this is an edible polypore it is only worth gathering when the fruitbodies are very young and fresh.

Identification Guide

	Description In circular tiers from a common branching stem, the tongue-like fronds of this soft polypore form a cauliflower-like rosette 20 to 50cm across. Individual fronds are 4 to 10cm across and 5 to 10mm thick, and they vary from tan to olive or cream in undulating concentric zones.
	Tubes and Pores The white tubes are 2 to 3mm deep and usually rounded; they terminate in pale cream pores that are decurrent to the stem.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Pleasant sweet odour when young; less so when decaying. The taste of older specimens can be quite acrid.
Habitat	At the bases of oak trees and other hardwoods.
Season	Summer and autumn.
Occurrence	Infrequent.
Similar species	Grifola umbellata is a less common but very similar species with stems more or less centrally attached to caps that are centrally depressed. Could possibly be confused with the much paler Wood Cauliflower, Sparasis crispa, but that grows only at the bases of conifers, and most frequently Scots pines.