Hericium erinaceus - Bearded Tooth

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Russulales

This very beautiful fungus of damaged or felled trees in old (mainly deciduous) woodland is also known as Bearded Tooth or Tree Hedgehog fungus.Hericium erinaceus (synonym: Hericium erinaceum) is rare, in the UK, at least, where it is a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species and grows mainly on hardwoods, particularly beech and oak. This specimen (left) was photographed in Gloucestershire by Mike Smith.

This is an edible species and highly prized; fortunately there is no justification for raiding 'the wild' nowadays, because birch plugs impregnated with the white mycelium of this beautiful mushroom can be purchased for inserting into holes in cut logs. Once sealed with wax, the plugs allow the mycelium to spread throughout the log, and in due course cascades of white 'icicles' will emerge.

Hericium erinaceus - Bearded Tooth Here is a picture of another fine specimen that we found in the Lot Valley, southern France, where these remarkable fungi are fairly common finds.

Classification note: Although DNA analysis has confirmed that many tooth fungi (such as the Hedgehog Fungus Hydnum repandum) are properly classified in the order Canthellales, the Bearded Tooth are not closely related to other tooth fungi and the Hericiaceae are now included in the order Russulales.

This remarkable fungus and other member of the Hericiaceae are distinguished by their icicle-like spines, creating the appearance of a frozen waterfall (or perhaps, reflecting an alternative common name, the mane of a white lion!).

Identification guide

Description	Hericium erinaceus (also referred to as the Pom-Pom mushroom) often has a roundish fruitbody with spines all emerging from the same point and cascading down like a mop head. White or pale yellow-brown turning darker with age, the fruitbody is attached to the substrate by a very short, broad stipe.
Size	The whole fruitbody can be as big as to 30cm across, although 15 to 20cm is more typical. Spines of Hericium erinaceus have pointed tips and range from 1 to 5cm long.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Odour not distinctive; when cooked the taste is reportedly delicious and, to some at least, rather like lobster cooked in butter.
Habitat	On beech and oak trees, stumps and fallen logs; occasionally on piles of sawdust.
Season	July to November
Occurrence	Hericium erinaceus is very rare in the UK.
Similar species	Hericium americanum is similar but the fruitbody usually has several branches. Hydnum rufescens and Hydnum repandum also have downward-projecting spines, but they are attached to a smooth-topped cap. Hericium coralloides is also very rare in the UK; it has a rubbery, coral-like branching fruitbody and is usually associated with beech and ash trees. Hericium cirrhatum is also very rare in the UK; it has shorter spines and a much thinner brachet-like fruitbody.

Reference Sources

Fascinated by Fungi, Pat O'Reilly 2011

Dictionary of the Fungi; Paul M. Kirk, Paul F. Cannon, David W. Minter and J. A. Stalpers; CABI, 2008

Taxonomic history and synonym information on these pages is drawn from many sources but in particular from the British Mycological Society's GB Checklist of Fungi and (for basidiomycetes) on Kew's Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota.