Hericium cirrhatum

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Hericium cirrhatum
Hericium cirrhatum. The Tiered Tooth. Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Russulales
Family: Hericiaceae
Genus: Hericium
Species:
H. cirrhatum
Binomial name
Hericium cirrhatum
(Nikol) Pers. (1950)
Synonyms
  • Creolophus cirratusScop. (1801)
  • Hydnum diversidens Fr., (1821) *Creolophus cirrhatus(Pers.) P. Karst., (1879)
  • Hericium diversidens(Fr.) Nikol. (1961) *Hydnum cirrhatum Pers. (1794)
Details of spines on the fruiting body. Hericium cirrhatum specimen on beech stump, Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire. The spine details.jpg
Details of spines on the fruiting body.

Hericium cirrhatum is a saprotrophic fungus, commonly known as the tiered tooth fungus or spine face. [1] [2] The species is edible and good eating [1] when young. It has a texture not unlike tender meat or fish. The flesh is cream in colour with an attractive smell when young, but it develops a very unpleasant odour in older specimens. [3] [2]

Contents

Appearance

The appearance of the fruit body is bracket-like, but without a stem and usually the spines are hang in tiers like icicles. [1] The upper surface is often rough with sterile spines and scales present. [1] DNA analysis places it in the order Russulales. [2] Each tier can be 5 to 10cms across and 2 to 3cms thick with spines a little over 1cm long. [2] It tends to occur for only a couple of years at any given site. [2]

Hericium cirrhatum can be mistaken for Hydnum rufescens or Hydnum repandum , however these species have a cap that is smooth. Hericium erinaceus is another Red Data List species with a more obviously spherical fruiting body and it has much longer spines. [2]

Etymology

The generic name 'Hericium', refers to the fertile spines found in this group and means 'pertaining to a hedgehog'. These spines also gave rise to the species name 'cirrhatum' that translates as 'having tendrils'. [3]

Habitat & distribution

Fruit body on a beech stump Hericium cirrhatum specimen on beech stump, Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire.jpg
Fruit body on a beech stump

Hericium cirrahatum grows on dead standing hardwood trees, fallen wood or tree stumps of species such as beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) in old established deciduous woodlands. It has also been recorded on sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus , birch Betula spp., ash Fraxinus spp., oak Quercus robur and elm Ulmus spp. [1] [4] and is found from July to November in Britain. [3] It is vulnerable and has been added to the Red Data List. [1] As a very rare species it has legal protection in Britain under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which covers the picking or destruction of the fruiting bodies. [2]

The NBN Database lists only 176 records in Britain of which only 11 are confirmed and none are shown in Scotland although the photographed specimens were found in Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire. [5] It is nowhere common, but records show it to be present in southern England, particularly in the New Forest and in some parts of central and southern mainland Europe. [3]

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<i>Hydnum repandum</i> Species of edible fungus of the family Hydnaceae distributed in Europe

Hydnum repandum, commonly known as the sweet tooth, wood hedgehog or hedgehog mushroom, is a basidiomycete fungus of the family Hydnaceae. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of the genus Hydnum. The fungus produces fruit bodies (mushrooms) that are characterized by their spore-bearing structures—in the form of spines rather than gills—which hang down from the underside of the cap. The cap is dry, colored yellow to light orange to brown, and often develops an irregular shape, especially when it has grown closely crowded with adjacent fruit bodies. The mushroom tissue is white with a pleasant odor and a spicy or bitter taste. All parts of the mushroom stain orange with age or when bruised.

<i>Hericium erinaceus</i> Edible mushroom

Hericium erinaceus is an edible mushroom belonging to the tooth fungus group. Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, it can be identified by its long spines, occurrence on hardwoods, and tendency to grow a single clump of dangling spines. The fruit bodies can be harvested for culinary use.

<i>Hericium coralloides</i> Species of fungus


Hericium coralloides is a saprotrophic fungus, commonly known as the coral tooth fungus. It grows on dead hardwood trees. The species is edible and good when young, but as it ages the branches and hanging spines become brittle and turn a light shade of yellowish brown.

<i>Hydnum rufescens</i> Species of fungus

Hydnum rufescens, commonly known as the terracotta hedgehog, is an edible basidiomycete of the family Hydnaceae. It belongs to the small group of mushrooms often referred to as the tooth fungi, which produce fruit bodies whose cap undersurfaces are covered by hymenophores resembling spines or teeth, and not pores or gills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydnellum peckii</span> Species of fungus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydnaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not. This artificial but often useful grouping is now more generally called the hydnoid or tooth fungi. In the strict, modern sense, the Hydnaceae are limited to the genus Hydnum and related genera, with basidiocarps having a toothed or poroid hymenium. Species in the family are ectomycorrhizal, forming a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of trees and other plants. Hydnum repandum is an edible species, commercially collected in some countries and often marketed under the French name pied de mouton.

<i>Phellodon</i> Genus of tooth fungi in the family Bankeraceae

Phellodon is a genus of tooth fungi in the family Bankeraceae. Species have small- to medium-sized fruitbodies with white spines on the underside from which spores are released. All Phellodon have a short stalk or stipe, and so the genus falls into the group known as stipitate hydnoid fungi. The tough and leathery flesh usually has a pleasant, fragrant odor, and develops a cork-like texture when dry. Neighboring fruitbodies can fuse, sometimes producing large mats of joined caps. Phellodon species produce a white spore print, while the individual spores are roughly spherical to ellipsoid in shape, with spiny surfaces.

<i>Hydnellum aurantiacum</i> Species of fungus

Hydnellum aurantiacum is an inedible fungus, commonly known as the orange spine or orange Hydnellum for its reddish orange or rusty red colored fruit bodies. Like other tooth fungi, it bears a layer of spines rather than gills on the underside of the cap. Due to substantial declines in sightings, this species is listed as critically endangered in the United Kingdom.

<i>Hericium</i> Genus of fungi

Hericium is a genus of edible mushrooms in the family Hericiaceae. Species in this genus are white and fleshy and grow on dead or dying wood; fruiting bodies resemble a mass of fragile icicle-like spines that are suspended from either a branched supporting framework or from a tough, unbranched cushion of tissue. This distinctive structure has earned Hericium species a variety of common names—monkey's head, lion's mane, and bear's head are examples. Taxonomically, this genus was previously placed within the order Aphyllophorales, but recent molecular studies now place it in the Russulales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydnoid fungi</span> Group of fungi

The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota with basidiocarps producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the genus Hydnum, but it is now known that not all hydnoid species are closely related.

<i>Hericium abietis</i> Species of fungus

Hericium abietis, commonly known as the bear's head or the western coral hedgehog, is an edible mushroom in the tooth fungus group. It grows on conifer stumps or logs in North America, producing a cream white fruit body up to 10–75 cm (4–30 in) tall and wide. It fruits from after the start of the fall rains to mid-season.

<i>Hydnellum ferrugineum</i> Species of fungus

Hydnellum ferrugineum, commonly known as the mealy tooth or the reddish-brown corky spine fungus, is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. A widely distributed species, it is found in north Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. The fungus fruits on the ground singly or in clusters in conifer forest, usually in poor or sandy soil. Fruit bodies are somewhat top-shaped, measuring 3–10 cm (1–4 in) in diameter. Their velvety surfaces, initially white to pink, sometimes exude drops of red liquid. The lower surface of the fruit body features white to reddish-brown spines up to 6 mm long. Mature fruit bodies become dark reddish brown in color, and are then difficult to distinguish from other similar Hydnellum species. H. ferrugineum forms a mat of mycelia in the humus and upper soil where it grows. The presence of the fungus changes the characteristics of the soil, making it more podzolized.

<i>Auriscalpium vulgare</i> Inedible European fungi

Auriscalpium vulgare, commonly known as the pinecone mushroom, the cone tooth, or the ear-pick fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae of the order Russulales. It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus, who included it as a member of the tooth fungi genus Hydnum, but British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray recognized its uniqueness and in 1821 transferred it to the genus Auriscalpium that he created to contain it. The fungus is widely distributed in Europe, Central America, North America, and temperate Asia. Although common, its small size and nondescript colors lead it to be easily overlooked in the pine woods where it grows. A. vulgare is not generally considered edible because of its tough texture, but some historical literature says it used to be consumed in France and Italy.

<i>Phellodon sinclairii</i> Species of fungus

Phellodon sinclairii is a native tooth fungus found in beech forests of New Zealand. It was first described by Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1867 as a species of Hydnum in Joseph Dalton Hooker's work Handbook of the New Zealand Flora. The type locality was on Maungatua. Gordon Herriot Cunningham transferred the species to the genus Phellodon in 1958.

<i>Hydnellum cyanopodium</i> Species of fungus

Hydnellum cyanopodium, commonly known as the blue foot or bleeding blue tooth, is an inedible fungus in the family Bankeraceae. It occurs in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

<i>Hydnellum scrobiculatum</i> Species of fungus

Hydnellum scrobiculatum, commonly known as the ridged tooth, is a tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, it is found in Asia, Europe, and North America.

<i>Phellodon niger</i> Species of fungus

Phellodon niger, commonly known as the black tooth, is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae, and the type species of the genus Phellodon. It was originally described by Elias Magnus Fries in 1815 as a species of Hydnum. Petter Karsten included it as one of the original three species when he circumscribed Phellodon in 1881. The fungus is found in Europe and North America, although molecular studies suggest that the North American populations represent a similar but genetically distinct species.

Mycorrhaphium pusillum is a species of tooth fungus in the family Steccherinaceae. It is a rare European fungus that has only been officially recorded a few times.

<i>Hericium clathroides</i> Species of fungus

Hericium clathroides is a species of an edible fungus in the Hericiaceae family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Phillips, Roger (2006). Mushrooms. Macmillan. p. 327. ISBN   0-330-44237-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Ultimate Mushroom Guide
  3. 1 2 3 4 First Nature
  4. Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota
  5. NBN Atalas