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| Figure 1. Hericium americanum. |
Name: Hericium americanum
Family: Hericiaceae
Collection Date: October 4, 2011
Habitat: On wet, dead tree.
Location: The West Woods Park in Geauga County
Description: Fruiting body bearing spores on downward point spines suspended like icicles; stalk absent; growing on wood; fruiting body a branched framework; lacking a distinct cap. Fruiting body is usually 15-30 cm across; consisting of a tightly branched structure arising from a rooting base; with densely packed spines .5-4 cm long hanging from the branches in clusters or rows; white, or in age discoloring brownish to yellowish. Flesh is white and does not change when sliced.
Hericium americanum is North America's only Hericium species with long spines and a branched fruiting body. It is apparently found only east of the Great Plains, fruiting from dead wood or live trees. Though it is more frequently found on hardwoods, it is documented on conifers. When young, before the branches have developed, it might be confused with Hericium erinaceus. Saprobic and possibly parasitic; growing alone or gregariously; fruiting on dead hardwood logs and stumps, or from the wounds of living hardwoods; documented to fruit (rarely) on conifer wood; late summer and fall; east of the Great Plains (Kuo, 2003).
Hericium americanum is North America's only Hericium species with long spines and a branched fruiting body. It is apparently found only east of the Great Plains, fruiting from dead wood or live trees. Though it is more frequently found on hardwoods, it is documented on conifers. When young, before the branches have developed, it might be confused with Hericium erinaceus. Saprobic and possibly parasitic; growing alone or gregariously; fruiting on dead hardwood logs and stumps, or from the wounds of living hardwoods; documented to fruit (rarely) on conifer wood; late summer and fall; east of the Great Plains (Kuo, 2003).
Collector: Cara Tompot
Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
Keying Steps:
Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi
Basidiomycetes Pg 52.
Fruiting body bearing its spores on downward-pointing spines or “teeth”; spines either lining the underside of a cap or suspended like icicles from a cushion of tissue or a branched framework; stalk present or absent; on ground or wood. Teeth fungi pg. 611.
Key to the Hydnaceae.
1b. Not as above- (above: growing on decaying conifer cones or sometimes in mats or debris made up partly of cones and stalk hairy, brown to dark brown, stalk only 0.5-3 mm thick; not growing on cone; stalk if present usually thicker.)
2b. Not as above-(above: fruiting body rubbery and flexible, small cap typically 5 cm broad or less, translucent white to watery gray or with a brownish cap; stalk lateral; spines minute and very short.)
3a. Growing on wood.
4a. Fruiting body a branched framework or unbranched cushion of tissue from which spines are suspended (i.e. icicle like); lacking a distinct cap. Hericium p 613.
Key to Hericium:
1. Hericium erinaceus. After checking online, I found that it can be easily confused with Hericium americanum which is not in any of the keys. Due to the fact that the species I found is branched, I conclude that my species is in fact the Hericium americanum.
Links:
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Figure 2. Hericium americanum. |
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Figure 3. Close up of teeth on Hericium americanum. Yellowing with age. |
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