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]

Hericium cirrhatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
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 cirratus Scop. (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.

Appearance

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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

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Phillips, Roger (2006). Mushrooms. Macmillan. p. 327. ISBN 0-330-44237-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The Ultimate Mushroom Guide
  3. ^ a b c d First Nature
  4. ^ Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota
  5. ^ NBN Atalas
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