This beautiful specimen was several feet tall. 7 November 2022 Hampshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. Common Name Lion's mane, bearded tooth, tree hedgehog Cap A large irregular ball like growth, whitish when young then pale beige, consisting of an upper structure supporting numerous long, hanging spines, growing to about 30 cm across. Smell Indistinct Taste Indistinct Season Autumn Distribution Infrequent Habitat On living and dead deciduous trees, always on, or inside, the main trunk, favouring beech, with confirmed records on hornbeam and oak. Several fruiting bodies can grow together forming a growth up to 1 meter or more tall or wide. Spore Print White Microscopic Features Spores broadly ellipsoidal, finely warty, strongly amyloid (5-6) x (3-4) µm2. Basidia four spored. Hyphal system monomitic, clamp connections present. Edibility Should not be collected due to rarity Notes Although this fungus is cultivated for food, especially in the Far East, wild specimens should be left for others to admire, allowing the species to survive in Britain. Both the genus name, Hericium, and the species name, erinaceus, derive from the Latin word for hedgehog. I am grateful to Simon Currie for providing the location of the specimen photographed in 2022. The specimen from 2016 was shown to me by the Hampshire Fungus Recording Group. A specimen was present inside the same tree in October 2020. 
9 October 2016 Hampshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. |