Natural Products of Boonville

Hericium erinaceus
[Commonly accepted name.]
See comments on H. erinaceum.

Abies homolepis  ?

Acer macrophyllum

Acer nigrum

Acer rubrum

Acer saccharinum 

Acer saccharum

Acer spp.

Aesculus sp.

Ailanthus altissima

Albizia julibrissin

Alnus sp.

Betula sp.

Carpinus betulus

Carya aquatica 

Carya spp.

Castanea sativa

Castanopsis cuspidata

Castanopsis sp. 

Celtis laevigata 

Ceratonia siliqua

Diospyros virginiana

Eucalyptus sp.

Fagus crenata 

Fagus grandifolia

Fagus moesiaca

Fagus spp.

Fagus sylvatica

Juglans sp.

Liquidambar styraciflua

Liriodendron tulipifera 

Malus sp.

Morus sp. 

Notholithocarpus densifolia

Nyssa sp.

Nyssa sylvatica 

Platanus occidentalis

Platanus racemosa

Platanus spp.

Populus tremula 

Prunus sp.

Robinia pseudoacacia

Quercus acutissima 

Quercus agrifolia

Quercus alba

Quercus cerris

Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata 

Quercus chrysolepis

Quercus coccinea

Quercus conferta [Now = Q. frainetto]

Quercus douglasii 

Quercus faginea

Quercus garryana

Quercus gilva 

Quercus glauca 

Quercus hypoleucoides

Quercus imbricaria 

Quercus kelloggii

Quercus laurifolia 

Quercus leucotrichophora 

Quercus lobata

Quercus lyrata 

Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata 

Quercus mongolica

Quercus montana

Quercus nigra 

Quercus nuttallii 

Quercus palustris 

Quercus petraea

Quercus phellos

Quercus prinus

Quercus pubescens

Quercus pyrenaica 

Quercus robur (now = Quercus pedunculata) 

Quercus rubra

Quercus salicina 

Quercus semecarpifolia

Quercus serrata 

Quercus sp.

Quercus velutina

Quercus wislizeni

Robinia pseudoacacia

Robinia spp.

Salix nigra 

Sorbus sp. 

Tilia spp. 

Ulmus carpinifolia

Ulmus sp.

Abies homolepis (Nikko fir) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan). (?)

Acer macrophyllum (broadleaf maple) DAVFP (BC, Canada).

Acer nigrum (black maple) “wood rot, sometimes heart rot of living trees” Anonymous 1960 (Vermont to Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota). 

Acer rubrum (red maple) “white heart rot” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Acer saccharinum (silver maple) See comment under A. nigrum. Anonymous 1960 (Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey) & Ginns 1985 (New Jersey); USDA collection list (Kansas) (BPI 261863); “white heart rot” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Acer saccharum (sugar maple) See comment under A. nigrum. Anonymous 1960 (Vermont to Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota); On living tree “within a hole 18 feet high on the bole.” Eslyn 1962 (Iowa); Maneval 1937 (Missouri); Preston & Dosdall 1955 (Minnesota).

Acer sp. (maple) Isolated from mine timbers. Esyln & Lombard 1963 (USA); Rastetter 1983 citing Marchand (France).

Acer spp. (maples) Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); in Henderson 1981; and Horst 2013.

Aesculus sp. (horse chestnut) Doll 1979 “once” (Mecklenburg, Germany).

Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) On live trunk in urban center. Mir et alia 2017 (Balearic Island, Menorca); Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France) (as Ailanthus glandulosa). 

Albizia julibrissin (silk tree) “annually pruned […] in urban areas.” Global Fungal Red List; “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia mentions a collection of “Hericium sp.” from this host (Ukraine).

Alnus sp. (alder) Spaulding 1961 (Great Britain); “trunks” USDA collection list (Germany) (BPI 261864).

Betula spp. (birch) Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); Harrison 1961 (Nova Scotia) Ginns 1985 suspected the mating indicating this ID had been based on a misidentified tester strain; A collection was also reported in Mackay 1904 (as H. erinaceum).

Carpinus betulus (common hornbeam) On dead stump. Kunca & Čiliak 2017 (Slovakia).

Carpinus sp. (alder) Spaulding 1961 (Great Britain).

Carya aquatica (water hickory) Parris 1959 (Mississippi).

Carya sp. (hickory) “on a dead log” in Banker 1906 (as Hicoria).

Castanea sativa (sweet chestnut) in crevices, wounds and hollows Bresadola 1906 (Europe).

Castanopsis cuspidata (Japanese chinquapin or shiia) On dead trunks. Otani 1957 (Japan); Spaulding 1961 (Japan).

Castanopsis sp. (chinquapin) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan)

Celtis laevigata (southern hackberry) Anonymous 1960 (USA).

Ceratonia siliqua (carob tree) “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Crete). 

Diospyros virginiana (American persimmon) “wood rot.” Anonymous 1960 (Louisiana).

Eucalyptus sp. was mentioned in Harrison 1973 (California, USA); “stump” ; USDA collection list (California) (BPI 261865); “stump dead” USDA collection list (California) (BPI 261866 & 261867). [Eucalyptus also successfully used in Australian cultivation.]

Fagus crenata (Japanese beech) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Fagus grandifolia (American beech) “on live” Ginns 1985 (Pennsylvania, USA); “usually on dead trunks, sometimes on living trees” Anonymous 1960 (Maine, New York, Vermont, West Virginia). 

Fagus moesiaca (Balkan beech) Karadzic 2006 (Serbia & Montenegro).

Fagus sp. (beech) “stump” “fallen beech trunk” Lacheva 2014 (Bulgaria); Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); Rastetter 1983 citing Marchand (France); “collected from stumps” Afyon et alia 2009 (Sinop, Boyabat, Turkey); one of the main host trees. Doll 1979 (Mecklenburg, Germany); Stasińska 1999 (NW Poland in mountains not low areas); Ginns 1985 (UK); Harrison alluded it to only being true in earlier times due to loss of beech forests. Harrison 1961 (Nova Scotia); “living” ; USDA collection list (West Virginia) (BPI 261868 & 348384).

Fagus sylvatica (European beech) ATCC and Bisko et alia 2016 (the Netherlands); Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); “On trunks” Berkeley 1860 (UK); on living. Spaulding 1961 (Germany); Rupcic et alia 2018 (Germany) (STMA 06157B); USDA collection list (Germany) (BPI 261870); on living and dead. Kunca & Čiliak 2015 (Poland, Czech Repubic, Hungary & Austria); on live and dead. Kunca & Čiliak 2015 & 2017 (Slovakia); “trunk of living” Kunca et alia 2018 (Slovakia); “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece); on live and dead. Sikora & Neubauer 2015 (Poland); Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine).

Fraxinus sp. (ash) Anonymous 1960 (USA); Rastetter 1983 citing Marchand (France).

Juglans sp. (walnut) Anonymous 1960 & Cybertruffle’s Robigalia cited Teng 1996:314. (1 record from China); Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); Rastetter 1983 citing Marchand (France); also in Monica 2014 . Monica’s ID needs to be questioned: the included photo appears to be H. laciniatum/coralloides (Italy); also in Doll 1979 citing Bourdot & Galzin 1927.

Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) “On wood” Alfieri et alia 1984 (Florida); Nakasone 1996 (southern USA); “Wood rot. Sometimes on living trees” Anonymous 1960 (Gulf states). It seems possible that this was in reference to Hericium americanum?

Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree) “Wood rot” Anonymous 1960 (Virginia).

Magnoliopsidae ord. indet. (this is a rather broad category) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Teng 1996:314. (12 records from China). 

Malus sp. (crabapples & apples) Doll 1979 citing Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France).

Morus sp. (mulberry) Bresadola 1906 (Europe).

Notholithocarpus (Lithocarpus) densifolia (tan-oak) On living trees; less common on fallen trunks. Local observation by Trout (Mendocino Co, California, USA).

Nyssa sp. (tupelo) “wood rot, sometimes on living trees.” Anonymous 1960 (North Carolina).

Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo or sour gum) “white spongy heart rot” Anonymous 1960 (North Carolina).

Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore) Oudemans (1919–1924 (USA); “trunk rot, sometimes on living trees” Anonymous 1960 (North Carolina).

Platanus racemosa (California sycamore) Oudemans 1919–1924 (USA).

Platanus sp. (plane tree) was also mentioned in Harrison 1973.

Populus tremula (quaking aspen) Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine).

Prunus sp. Bresadola 1906 (Europe).

Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) “stump” Kunca et alia 2018 (Slovakia).

Quercus acutissima (sawtooth oak) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Quercus agrifolia (coast live oak) Anonymous 1964 & Swiecki & Bernhardt 2006 (California); USDA collection list (California) (BPI 262011).

Quercus alba (white oak) “white spongy butt and heart rot” Anonymous 1960 (New York to Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa); ATCC (New Jersey); “on live” Ginns 1985 (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, USA); Grand 1985 (North Carolina); Berry 1969 (Kentucky); Maneval 1937 (Missouri); USDA collection list (Washington, DC) (BPI 261878 & 262002); USDA collection list (Maryland) (BPI 262003); USDA collection list (Virginia) (BPI 262007, 262009 & 262012); Berry & Lombard 1978 (central USA); “Butt & heart rot” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata (oriental white oak) Tai 1979 (China)

Quercus cerris (turkey oak) Kew Gardens (England); on living and on dead. Kunca & Čiliak 2017 (Slovakia); “trunk of living” & “log” Kunca et alia 2018 (Slovakia).

Quercus chrysolepis (canyon live oak) French 1989 & Swiecki & Bernhardt 2006 (California).

Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak) Berry & Lombard 1978 (central USA); “heart & butt rot” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Quercus conferta (Hungarian oak) “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece).

Quercus douglasii (blue oak) French 1989 (California).

Quercus faginea (Portuguese oak) on live tree. Merino Alcántara 2014 (Andalusia, Spain).

Quercus garryana (garry oak) Shaw 1973 (Oregon).

Quercus gilva (ichiigashi) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Quercus glauca (Japanese blue oak) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Quercus hypoleucoides (silverleaf oak) Gilbertson et alia 1974 (Cochise Co., Arizona).

Quercus imbricaria (shingle oak) Maneval 1937 (Missouri).

Quercus kelloggii (California black oak) Live tree; from branch scar. Local observations by Trout. (Boonville and Philo, Mendocino County, California); also in Swiecki & Bernhardt 2006 (California); USDA collection list (Grass Valley, California) (BPI 261881); Filip et alia 1995 (Oregon).

Quercus laurifolia (laurel oak) “white spongy heart rot” Anonymous 1960 (Florida).

Quercus leucotrichophora (banj oak) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (India) [as = Q. incana].

Quercus lobata (valley oak) Swiecki & Bernhardt 2006 (California).

Quercus lyrata (overcup oak) “On wood” Parris 1959 (Mississipi).

Quercus mongolica (Mongolian oak) Spaulding 1961 (Siberia); “Decay” Chen 2003 (Jilin, Heilongjiang, Neimeng, China); “collected from a trunk of oak tree” Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (Japan) (as H. erinaceum) (as Quercus crispula (mizu-nara)].

Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata (Mongolian oak) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Quercus montana (chestnut oak) “sprout butt rot” Anonymous 1960 (Virginia).

Quercus nigra (blackjack oak) “white spongy heart rot” Anonymous 1960 (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi); USDA collection list (Georgia) (BPI 269364).

Quercus nuttallii (Nuttall oak) “On wood” Parris 1959 (Mississippi).

Quercus palustris (pin oak) USDA collection list (Arkansas) (BPI 261882).

Quercus petraea (sessile oak) On living weakened and dead. Kunca & Čiliak 2015 & 2017 (Slovakia); “trunk of living”, “trunk of dead”  & “log” Kunca et alia 2018 (Slovakia); Karadzic 2006 (Serbia & Montenegro); Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (Ukraine).

Quercus phellos (willow oak) ATCC; “white spongy heart rot” Anonymous 1960 (North Carolina); “On wood” Parris 1959 (Mississippi).

Quercus prinus (chestnut oak) Berry & Lombard 1978 (central USA); “Pocket rot, wood decay” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Quercus pubescens (downy oak) “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece); Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (Ukraine).

Quercus pyrenaica (Pyrenean oak) Cardoso et alia 1992 (Portugal).

Quercus robur (English oak) Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (Europe); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia cited Gizhytska 1929 (Ukraine).

Quercus rubra (red oak) ATCC; “On wood” Ginns 1985; Stalpers 1992 (All three Virginia); “white spongy heart and sapwood rot, wound rot of living trees.” Anonymous 1960 (West Virginia) (as Quercus borealis); Hanlin 1966 (Georgia).

Quercus salicina (Japanese willowleaf oak) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan)

 Quercus semecarpifolia (brown oak) “Decay” Chen 2003 (Tibet, Sichuan, China).

Quercus serrata (konara) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan).

Quercus sp. (oak) “on standing” “trunk” Ginns 1985 (Maryland); on living and dead: Sikora & Neubauer 2015 (Poland); on dead oak: Rastetter 1983 (France); Doll 1979: one of the main host trees (Mecklenburg, Germany); USDA collection list (Czechoslovakia) (BPI 261875 & 261877); dead trunk  & “trunk of living” Kunca et alia 2018 (Slovakia); Spaulding 1961 (Denmark & UK); “On trunks” Berkeley 1860 (UK); “On wood” Teng 1996 (China); Balfour-Browne 1968 (Nepal) (3300m in thick forest); ; “living” USDA collection list (North Borneo) (BPI 261876); Campbell et alia 1950 & Hanlin 1966 (Georgia); “rotten” ; USDA collection list (Maryland) (BPI 262008); USDA collection list (Tennessee) (BPI 324036); “log dead” USDA collection list (Virginia) (BPI 261872); Maneval (Missouri); “living” USDA collection list (Missouri) (BPI 261873 & 261874); USDA collection list (Monrovia, California) (BPI 262005); “dead” ; USDA collection list (Pt Reyes, California) (BPI 262006).

Quercus spp. (oaks) Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); also given in Persoon 1794: 153; “sur les grosses branches mortes du chêne” [on large dead branches of oak] Chevalier 1826:275 (France); on living and dead. “on old oaks” Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Crete); Kunca & Čiliak 2015 (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary & Austria); Karadzic 2006 (Serbia & Montenegro); Kunca & Čiliak 2015 & 2017 (Slovakia); “arising from wounds of living or decaying trunks, stumps and logs” Singh 2017 (Uttarakhand, India); on dead trunks Otani 1957 (Japan); Kobayashi 2007 (Japan); “Decay” Chen 2003 (Tibet, Henan, Sichuan, China).
Berry & Lombard 1978 reported a prevalence of its occurrences on Black oak > white oak >> Scarlet oak > Chestnut oak (central USA).

Quercus velutina (eastern black oak) “decay” Ginns 1985 (Pennsylvania, USA); “white spongy heart and sapwood rot, wound rot of living trees.” Anonymous 1960 (North Carolina); Berry & Lombard 1978 (central USA); “White pocket rot” Ellett 1989 (Alaska).

Quercus wislizeni (interior live oak) Swiecki & Bernhardt 2006 (California).

Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) “Wound” USDA collection list (West Virginia) (BPI 348482); On dead stump. Kunca & Čiliak 2017 (Slovakia).

Robinia sp. (locust) on injured living tree was mentioned in Banker 1906 (USA); (also given in Keizer 2008).

Salix nigra (black willow) Isolated from decaying logs. Esyln & Lombard 1984 (Georgia).

Sorbus sp. (mountain ash) Doll 1979 citing Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France).

Tilia spp. (tilden) “Decay” Chen 2003 (Heilongjiang, China)

Ulmus carpinifolia (smoothleaf elm) (Now = U. minor) On dead log Kunca & Čiliak 2017 (Slovakia).

Ulmus sp. (elm) Boudier 1905 (France).

“grows on trunks of wounded living hardwoods” Spaulding 1961 

“On alive trunks of Quercus and Fagus” 1000-1400m. Nanagulyan & Senn-Irlet 2002 (Armenia).

“large stems of beech, both living and dead” Hansen & Veesterholt 2002 (Denmark). 

“nait des cicatrices des vieux chênes” (from scars of old oaks) Bulliard 1780.

“[…] in the scars of old oaks” Letellier 1826.

“pas rare sur vieux chênes; hêtre, noyer, Ailanthus glandulosa.” “not rare on old oaks; beech, walnut, Ailanthus glandulosa.” Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France).

“On oak and Robinia (living trees)” “loofbomen (eik, Robinia)” Keizer 2008 (Netherlands).

“living oak and beech” Hallenberg 1983 (C & S Europe; reaching as far north as S Sweden).

“beech (77%) or oak Quercus sp. (23%)” “At 71% of sites, fruiting bodies were found on dead wood, either on lying or standing trunks, and 29% − on living trees.” Sikora & Neubauer 2015 (Poland)

“High up on wounds and stubs on living trees; fallen large diam. wood.” Boddy et alia 2011 (UK).

“Beech, oak, hornbeam, and alder trunks.” Rea 1922.

“On old oaks” Gray 1821:651 (UK) [as = Steccherinum quercinum].

“On trunks, oaks, beech, &c.” Massee 1892 and Stevenson 1886 (UK). Cooke 1871 was almost the same but gave as “United States.”

“mainly in the wounds of old standing living trees. Most often Fagus sylvatica (beech), occasionally Quercus robur (oak). […] on cut end of felled trees and on trunks of fallen trees” Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership 2003 (UK); “beech wood” Wald et alia 2004 (UK); “growing from scars on living deciduous trees, especially beech” Images on beech (UK) and on oak (USA) Roger’s mushrooms [http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~6107~gid~~source~gallerydefault.asp]  Link unresponsive in 3-2019.

Oak, “fur les chênes” Paulet 1793: pages 424 & 427 (France).

“Quercia, Faggio, Noce e di altre piante decidue. “ (i.e. “Oak, Beech, Walnut [Juglans] & other deciduous species”) Monica 2014 (Italy) Photo appears to be of H. laciniatum/coralloides. 

“invariably grows out of the knotholes or wounds of the tree, which may be walnut, oak, elm, or beech.” “ranging from rare in central Europe to fairly common in southern England.” Pegler 2003.

“Growing as a weak parasite on trunks and thick branches of old, standing deciduous trees, mainly Quercus and Fagus, often in old wounds, often high above the ground and fruiting many years on the same tree. It occurs in old, deciduous forests but also on planted trees in parks and along roadsides.” ECCF 2001 (“Widespread in Europe”).

‘very rare in northern Europe, and has been found frequently only in Denmark.”

Classified as endangered in Sweden and in Poland; “usually grows on Fagus sylvatica and Quercus robur, but also occurs on Betula, Juglans, Malus and Sorbus.” 

“In Central Europe further host trees are known.” 

“A characteristic site is a knothole or wound on a standing, living tree.” 

Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988.

“it grows on the trunks of leafy trees, especially on chestnut, mulberry, plum etc. between crevices, scars or cavities.” Bresadola 1906 (Europe).

“undisturbed beech [Fagus] and oak [Quercus] forests with high air humidity, in the cracks and cavities of living, old or dead trunks, fallen logs and stumps.” Siller et alia 2005 (Hungary).

“on living beech trees” Afyon et alia 2004 (Sinop, Boyabat, Turkey).

“Saprobic and parasitic […] fruiting from the wounds of living hardwoods (especially oaks)” Kuo website.

“most commonly emerging from wounds in living oaks, often from holes made by woodpeckers; occasionally it is found on locusts or on beeches; sometimes it is found on dead logs. Of fifteen specimens whose habitat was given, ten were on injured living trees; of these seven were Quercus, two Robinia, and one Fagus; the remaining five plants grew on dead logs, one on Quercus, one on Hicoria [Carya], and the others unknown” “…prefers living oaks” Banker 1906.

“On living oak, locust or beech, also occasionally on dead trees” Banker 1906 (USA and Mexico).

“associated with a heart rot of oaks, occasionally on other frondose species, and is usually found growing from knotholes or cracks on living trees. It is recorded on Fagus in a number of states, on Acer spp. (Washington), Eucalyptus (California) and Platanus (Virginia).” Harrison 1972.

“Solitary from branch scars of living hardwoods or on fallen logs;” Mycoweb (California).

“Causes a white pocket rot of living trees, and is associated with wounds.” Glaeser & Smith 2010.

“grows only on deciduous wood, oak along Pacific Coast, in this area on maple.” Henderson 1981.

Bisko et alia 2016 listed culture collections from Nevada, China, Netherlands & Taiwan.

“grows on both living and dead broadleaf trees” Mori et alia 2008 (Japan & China).

“On dead standing hardwood.” BCRC (Taiwan).

“old tree stump” for both of the finds reported in the Atlas of Australia (VIC, Australia)

USDA ARS GRIN:

“Distribution: Europe, North America (USA). Reports from Canada may be Hericium americanum (Ginns 1985).”

“Substrate: Dead wood; reports on living trees in Canada may be Hericium americanum.”

  “Wood” (Mexico) appears at USDA ARS GRIN but the reference given, Heredia 1989, does not include this.

Hericium coralloides

[Commonly accepted name but not all users have been in agreement with one another as to what they mean by it.]

Abies alba 

Abies borisii-regis

Abies fabri

Abies firma

Abies homolepis

Abies spp.

Acacia dealbata 

Acacia melanoxylon 

Acacia spp. 

Acer negundo

Acer nigrum

Acer platanoides

Acer rubrum

Acer saccharum 

Acer saccharinum

Acer spp.

Agathis australis 

Alnus glutinosa 

Alnus incana

Alnus japonica 

Alnus spp.

Alnus tenuifolia 

Archontophoenix cunninghamii

Argyrodendron actinophyllum

Beilschmiedia tawa

Betula alba

Betula alleghaniensis (sometimes as synonym Betula lutea)

Betula papyrifera

Betula pendula

Betula sp.

Carpinus betulus 

Carpinus spp.

Carya spp.

Corylus sp.

Cupressus sp. ?

Dacrydium cupressinum 

Eucalyptus campanulata

Eucalyptus regnans

Eucalyptus spp.

Fagus crenata 

Fagus grandifolia

Fagus orientalis

Fagus spp.

Fagus sylvatica

Fuscospora fusca [formerly Nothofagus fusca]

Fraxinus excelsior

Fraxinus spp. 

Juglans sp.

Knightia excelsa

Maytensus sp.

Metrosideros robusta 

Morus alba

Morus spp.

Nothofagus cunninghamii [now = Lophozonia cunninghamii ]

Nothofagus menziesii [now = Lophozonia menziesii]

Nothofagus solandri [now = Fuscospora solandri]

A Nothofagus species. Either N. solandri or N. truncata [the latter now = Fuscospora truncata]

Nothofagus spp.

Notholithocarpus densifolia 

Nyssa sylvatica

Picea abies

Picea engelmannii (?)

Picea glauca

Picea spp. 

Pinus sylvestris 

Populus balsamifera

Populus papyrifera 

Populus spp.

Populus tacamahaca

Populus talassica 

Populus tremula

Populus tremuloides

Populus trichocarpa

Pyrus sp.

Quercus agrifolia 

Quercus cerris

Quercus coccifera

Quercus dilata

Quercus douglasii 

Quercus garryana

Quercus leucotrichophora 

Quercus liaotungensis

Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata 

Quercus pubescens

Quercus robur [now = Quercus pedunculata]

Quercus serrata 

Quercus sp.

Salix spp.

Sloanea woollsii

Sophora japonica [now = Styphnolobium japonicum]

Sorbus aucuparia

Tilia cordata

Tilia spp.

Tsuga heterophylla ?

Tsuga sieboldii 

Ulmus spp.

Weinmannia racemosa 

Also reported to be found growing on:

  an unidentified tree-fern frond (VIC)

  an unidentified podocarp (NZ)

  a Ganoderma fruiting body (NZ) (?)

N.B. (with caution)

the claims for:

  Deciduous trees only.

  Conifers only.

“exclusively on deciduous wood” Harrison 1973 (as H. ramosum).

Exclusively on softwood. Maas Geesteranus 1959.

“grows only on deciduous wood, usually poplar.” Henderson 1981. 

“in northwestern Europe […] grows almost exclusively on hardwoods.” Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988.

In the list that follows, hardwoods will be seen to predominate. Softer wood species will also be noticed. 

Hericium coralloides reported as occurring on Abies, Picea, Tsuga and other softwoods merit a closer examination to establish if these were misidentifications or if they are simply less common occurrences; or in some cases perhaps a new taxa deserves delineation. 

Abies alba (silver fir) Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (Czech Republic & Yugoslavia). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]

Abies borisii-regis (Bulgarian fir) “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]

Abies fabri (Yunnan fir) “Decay” Chen 2003 (Tibet, China).

Abies firma (Momi fir) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Abies homolepis (Nikko fir) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Abies sp. (fir) ATCC (Yugoslavia). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]; Teng 1996 (China); Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum); “On decayed” Berkeley 1860 (UK); Jussieu ex Barrelier 1714:118 (as Fungus ramosus], Pollini 1824 and also Micheli 1720:122 (all 3 Italy). Rastetter 1983 seems also likely to be H. alpestre?

Abies spp. (firs) “White rot” Chen 2003 (Tibet, Sichuan, China)

Acacia dealbata (silver wattle) “dead log” ALA (Victoria, Australia).

Acacia melanoxylon (blackwood) “Blackwood stump, with leaves growing from the stump” ALA (Tasmania, Australia); “Fern gully […] on standing dead”, “a gully […] inhabiting a rotten, fallen blackwood”, “in a fissure in trunk”, “on stump” ALA (Victoria, Australia).

Acacia spp. (wattles) “fallen wattle tree” ALA (Tasmania, Australia); “fallen log (hanging from)” ALA (New Zealand); “On rotting Acacia log” ALA (Victoria, Australia).

Acer negundo (black maple) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); possibly also the americanum in Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin).

Acer nigrum (boxelder) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); possibly also the americanum in Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin).

Acer platanoides (Norway maple) Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus). 

Acer rubrum (red maple) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); possibly also the americanum in Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin).

Acer saccharinum (silver maple) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); possibly also the americanum in Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin).

Acer saccharum (sugar maple) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); ; possibly also the americanum in Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin); “sporophores growing from an old log”, also found on living. Nordin 1954 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum).

Acer rubrum (red maple) wood rot Anonymous 1960 (ne USA); Grand 1985 (North Carolina) (as H. ramosum).

Acer sp. (maple) or Fagus sp. (beech) Ginns 1984 (Virginia).

Acer sp. (maple) USDA ARS GRIN cited BPI (New York) (as H. ramosum).

Agathis australis (kauri) “fallen log” This is a conifer. ALA (6 finds from New Zealand: all were submitted as Hericium sp.)

Alnus glutinosa (common alder) “fallen wood” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus).

Alnus incana (grey alder) Safonov 2014 (Orenburg Oblast, Russia).

Alnus japonica (East Asian alder) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Alnus sp. (alder) was mentioned as a host in Harrison 1973 (Oregon) and in Nikolaeva 1961 (Russia).

Alnus tenuifolia (mountain alder) “white rot of logs, Uncommon.” Kimmey & Stevenson 1957. (Alaska) (as H. laciniatum).

Archontophoenix cunninghamii (Bangalow palm) “Host in contact with soil, fallen, dead, rotten [trunk]” ALA (Queensland, Australia).

Argyrodendron actinophyllum (black booyong) “Dead wood from fallen” ALA (Queensland, Australia).

Beilschmiedia tawa (tawa) “standing dead stump”, “wood”, “large fallen rotting log” ALA (New Zealand).

Betula alba (silver birch) Ginns 1985 (Sweden).

Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch) Magasi 1966 (Canada). (as H. ramosum) (as Betula lutea).

Betula papyrifera (white birch) “White rot in wood of down dead trees. Uncommon.” Kimmey & Stevenson 1957 (Alaska); “wounded, live tree” Volk et alia 1994 (Alaska) (as H. ramosum) (HHB-12735-sp); Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (Both as = H. laciniatum); McArthur 1966 (Alberta, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Conners 1967 (Nova Scotia) (as H. ramosum).

Betula pendula (white birch) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Astapenko & Kutafyeva 1990 (Russia) (as = H. clathroides).

Betula sp. (birch) “on rotting” Ginns 1985 (Michigan); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum); Conners 1967 (Canada); “Collected on end of a beech log” Harrison 1961 (Nova Scotia); “Growing on a birch chopping block” Mackay 1904 (Nova Scotia); Hermansson 1997 (Russia); “windfall” Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (Serpukhov District, Russia); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (4 collections in Russia); “dead unfallen”, “on stump” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); Mycology.su (Russia and Western Siberia); Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Carpinus betulus (common hornbeam) Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus).

Carpinus sp. (hornbeam) or Fagus sp. (beech) Ginns 1984 (UK).

Carya sp. (hickory) “grows from dead wood” “on a dead hickory” Coker 1918 (North Carolina, USA) (as Manina flagellum).

Cupressus sp. (cedar) ? see Pollini 1824 (Italy).

Corylus sp. (hazelnut) Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (Central Europe).

Dacrydium cupressinum (rimu) “well rotted podocarp” ALA (New Zealand). This is a conifer.

Eucalyptus campanulata (New England blackbutt) “under” ALA (Queensland, Australia).

Eucalyptus regnans (mountain ash) “Inside a hollow of a mountain ash tree”, “riparian vegetation […] on top of fallen rotting log [host ID questioned]”, ‘on mountain ash trunk” “seen at two locations” ALA (Victoria, Australia).

Eucalyptus spp. (gum trees) “On dead fallen Eucalypt”, “Living Eucalyptus species” ALA (Victoria, Australia); “living eucalypts”, “on living eucalypt”, “base of eucalyptus tree” ALA (Tasmania, Australia). [1 possibly E. obliqua]

Fagus crenata (Japanese beech) Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Fagus grandifolia (American beech) “wood decay” Ellett 1989 (Alaska); Magasi 1966 (Canada)(as H. ramosum); Wehmeyer 1950 (Nova Scotia) (as H. laciniatum); “usually on dead trunks, sometimes on living trees” Anonymous 1960 (Maine, New York, Vermont, West Virginia) (as both H. coralloides and H. laciniatum) (Possibly suggesting the former referred to H. americanum? All of the coralloides in Pilley & Trieselmann 1966 have been placed there as well.)

Fagus orientalis (oriental beech) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (unclear if Georgia or Ukraine) [as = H. alpestre forma caput-ursi]; also mentioned in Doğan et alia 2005 (Turkey) See comments below.

Fagus sp. (beech) “On decayed” Berkeley 1860 (UK); “stump” Lacheva 2014 (Bulgaria); Pollini 1824 & Micheli 1720:122 (Italy); Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); Ginns 1985 (Denmark); “on fallen trunk” Ginns 1985 (Sweden); Hallenberg 1983 (Denmark, France, Sweden, Yugoslavia); Abrego et alia 2017; Domanski et alia 1960 (Poland); Harrison 1961 (Nova Scotia) (as H. ramosum); “on trunks or logs, often on beech” Groves 1981 (Canada); preferred host given in Banker 1906 (USA & Canada; as H. laciniatum); Anonymous 2014 (Alaska). Arnold 2001 proposed Hericium coralloides as an indicator species for undisturbed beech forests.

Fagus sylvatica (European beech) ATCC (Denmark); Bisko et alia 2016 (near Nijmegen, Netherlands); Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece); Stalpers 1992 (Ostrava, Czechoslovakia); “on old trees” (as H. ramosum) Domański et alia 1960 (on the slope of Szeroka Wierch, SE Poland); Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (7 records from Ukraine).

Fraxinus excelsior (European ash) Boddy et alia 2011 (UK); Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); also mentioned at the Global Fungal Red List.

Fraxinus sp. (ash) Ginns 1986 (Canada); Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); “On decayed” Berkeley 1860 (UK); also mentioned in Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership 2003 (UK); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (1 record from Georgia).

Fuscispora fusca (red beech) “large old log” ALA (New Zealand).

Ganoderma (?) Reported to have occurred on a Ganoderma fruiting body. Most likely the perception of the Ganoderma being the actual host was not accurate. It seems more probable that they were sharing the same host and became intimately associated. Also reported associated on a single host with Ganoderma. ALA (NZ); H. coralloides was reported to have been found sharing the same host with Ganoderma and in one case this was noted as following it. ALA (Tasmania, Australia).

Juglans sp. (walnut) Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); Monica 2014 includes, as H. erinaceus, an image that appears to be H. coralloides (Italy).

Knightia excelsa (rewa-rewa) A specimen from Colenso: Hooker 1867:611 (Hooker doubted the ID due to an ash-grey color but this is a color that can occur when old or infected with mold); “standing and fallen”, “fallen rotten wood” ALA (New Zealand).

Maytensus sp. Hallenberg et alia 1983 (Argentina).

Metrosideros robusta (northern rātā) ALA (New Zealand).

Morus alba (white mulberry) Pollini 1824 (Italy).

Morus sp. (mulberry) Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); also mentioned in Persoon 1794:151 “Quercum, etiam ad Fagos et Abietis, et in Italia ex Batarra […], in Ulmis et Morus provenit.”; Micheli 1720:122 (Italy); Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (central Europe).

Nothofagus cunninghamii (myrtle beech) “dead”, “rotten trunk”, “on fallen branches”, “on tree” ALA (Victoria, Australia); “dead tree” ALA (Tasmania, Australia).

Nothofagus menziesii (silver beech) “well rotted standing dead wood”, “very wet rotted log” ALA (New Zealand).

Nothofagus solandri (black beech) “rotten wood” Atlas of Living Australia (New Zealand).

Nothofagus sp. (unclear if black or hard beech) (i.e. respectively Nothofagus solandri var. solandri or Nothofagus truncata) “rotten stump” ALA (New Zealand).

Nothofagus spp. (southern beeches) “dead tree”, “standing dead tree” , “dead stump”, “spotted on a damp tree stump” ALA (Victoria, Australia & New Zealand); “typical of dead wood although sometimes also recorded on living trunks” McKenzie et alia 2000 (New Zealand) (as H. clathroides).

Notholithocarpus (formerly Lithocarpus) densifolia (tan-oak) Common on dropped limbs, fallen trunks, on dead standing trees, inside hollows (as both growth forms). Very rarely on the dead tissue of a large live tree.
Local observations by Trout (Mendocino Co. California, USA); Chen 2003 notes a 1934 collection by Metcalf from Willits.

Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo) “on decayed log” Van Hook 1922 (Indiana, USA) (as Hydnum caput-ursi). [Ed.: was this a H. americanum?]

Picea abies (Norway spruce) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Burova 1968:363. (1 record from Russia). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann’s spruce) Ginns 1986 (Canada) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?].

Picea glauca (white spruce) Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (as H. laciniatum) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?]; Conners 1967 (BC, Canada) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?]; McArthur 1966 (Alberta, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Conners 1967. (Alberta, Canada) (as H. ramosum). 

Picea sp. (spruce) Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum) Noted as rare host; DAVFP (BC, Canada). [Ed.: Were these H. abietis?]

Pinus sylvestris (scots pine) “on trunk of supposedly living” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus). [Ed.: H. alpestre?]

Podocarpaceae (these are conifers). Not identified beyond family. “dead standing tree” ALA (New Zealand).

Populus alba (white poplar) Haller 1768 (Sweden) [as = Echinus ramosus].

Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar) Specimen AKMC 1016. Chen 2003 (Alaska); Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Callan 1998 (BC, Canada); McArthur 1966 (Alberta, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); “Associated with a white rot” Gilbertson & Lombard 1976 (Minnesota) (as H. coralloides. It is possible this should be moved to americanum CHECK RLG 9766.

Populus spp. Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada); Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba , Canada).

Populus sp. (poplar) Lindsey & Gilbertson 1978 (USA); Anonymous 1960 (northwestern USA) (as H. americanum); Shaw 1973 (Washington) (as H. americanum); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum); DAVFP (BC, Canada); Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada); BVN 2009 (Alberta, Canada) (as H. ramosum); “Decay” Chen 2003 (Xinjiang, China); Hermansson 1997 (Russia); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Safongy 1999:79. (1 record from Russia); Mycology.su (Russia and Western Siberia); Sterbeeck 1675:254-255 (Netherlands).

Populus tacamahaca (black cottonwood) Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (as H. laciniatum).

Populus talassica (命叶杨 / mi ye yang) “Decay” Chen 2003 (Xinjiang, China).

Populus tremula (quaking aspen) Ginns 1985 (Sweden); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Astapenko 1990:290. (1 record from Russia) [as = H. clathroides].

Populus tremuloides (trembling aspen) Basham 1958 (Ontario, Canada); Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada); Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Callan 1998 & DAVFP (BC, Canada); Conners 1967 & Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum).

Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) “wood rot, chiefly of logs” Anonymous 1960 (northwestern states); Cash 1953 (Alaska) (as H. laciniatum and as H. coralloides); “log” Volk et alia 1994 (Alaska) (as H. ramosum) (HHB-12700-sp); Callan 1998 (BC, Canada); Thomas & Podmore 1953 (BC, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); DAVFP (BC, Canada); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum); “decay in” “on decorticated windfall” Ginns 1985 (BC, Canada). Most common host species in BC collections. DAVFP included a collection of “americanum” from BC, Canada on this substrate). It seems reasonable to suspect it was a coralloides; Ziller 1957 (BC, Canada); Ziller 1961 (BC, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Conners 1967 (BC, Canada & Alaska) (as H. ramosum/laciniatum); Basham 1958 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. laciniatum).

Pyrus sp. (pear) Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (central Europe).

Quercus agrifolia (coast live oak) Anonymous 1960 & French 1989 (California)

Quercus cerris (Turkey oak) “on coarse woody debris” Urban 2015 (Austria).

Quercus coccifera (kermes oak) Micheli 1720:122 (Italy).

Quercus dilatata (tilonj) “on dead parts of trunk” Sultana & Qreshi 2007; Ahmad & Khali 1997 (both Pakistan) (both as H. ramosum).

Quercus douglasii (blue oak) French 1989 (California).

Quercus kelloggii (black oak) French 1989 (California) (as H. ramosum).

Quercus garryana (garry oak) Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. coralloides); DAVFP included a collection of “americanum” from BC, Canada on this substrate) It seems reasonable to suspect this was coralloides.].

Quercus leucotrichophora (banj oak) “trees and fallen wood” Karun & Sridhar 2016 citing Zutshi & Gupta 2013 (Jamma & Kashmir, India); “Dead tree” Karun & Sridhar 2016 citing Thind & Khara 1975 (Himchal Pradesh, India) [as = Q. incana]; Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (India) [as = Q. incana].

Quercus liaotungensis (Liaotung oak) Chen 2003 (Shanxi, Liaoning, China) (As H. caput-medusae.)

Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata (Mongolian oak) Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Quercus petraea (sessile oak) Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); Dudka et alia 2004 (Ukraine); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (Ukraine).

Quercus pubescens (downy oak) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (Ukraine).

Quercus robur (European oak) “on decaying trunk” Ginns 1985 (Sweden); “on fallen wood” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); ALA (Swrcow, Mahrisch-Weisskirchen, Czech Republic).

Quercus serrata (konara) Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Quercus sp. (oak) Teng 1996 (China)

Salix sp. (willow) Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada); Specimen AKMC 1014. Chen 2003 (Alaska); Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Sloanea woollsii (yellow carabeen) “Wood, stag buttress 250 cm diam. and roots” ALA (Queensland, Australia)

Sophora japonica (Japanese pagoda tree) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (2 records from Ukraine) [1 as = Hericium coralloides; the other as Hericium sp.].

Sorbus aucuparia (rowan) “A wound parasite entering large open wounds on hardwood trees.” Spaulding 1961 (Norway).

Tilia cordata (little-leaf tilden) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Burova 1968:363. (Russia); Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (Europe).

Tilia sp. (tilden) Russian Red Book Plants (Russian Federation).

Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) DAVFP (BC, Canada). [Ed.: H. abietis?]

Tsuga sieboldii (Southern Japanese hemlock) Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Ulnus spp. (elm) Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); also mentioned in Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership 2003 (UK) and Mycology.su (Russia).

Weinmannia racemosa (kāmahi) ALA (New Zealand).

“Outside of Belarus [reported] from Populus, Salix [willow], Sorbus [mountain-ash], Tilia [tilden], and Ulmus [elm].” Yurchenko 2002.

“Inhabiting big-size fallen wood, dead unfallen trunks and large branches, stumps; sometimes […] in trunk holes” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus)

“Large stems of hardwood, especially beech” Hansen & Veesterholt 2002 (Denmark).

“Fallen decayed trunks of Fagus sylvatica and other deciduous trees, and exceptionally on Abies” Hallenberg 1983 (Sweden) (as = H. clathroides).

On Morus alba, and “on beech [Fagus], fir [Abies], cypress [Cupressus]” “ad Fagos, Abietes, Ilices” Pollini 1824 (Italy).

“Standing dead trunks, fallen trunks and larger branches” Boddy et alia 2011 (UK).

“On angiosperm wood” Stalpers 1992 (Epping forest, England).

“Logs on ground. Mostly Beech, also on Fraxinus and Ulnus” Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership 2003 (UK).

“Beech wood” Wald et alia 2004.

“Decayed fir, beech, ash, birch, and oak trunks.” Rea 1922.

“Common in Iowa on dead logs of frondose species” Miller 1935. (Iowa) (as = Hericium laciniatum/coralloides).

“On beech and hickory logs” Banker 1906 (Canada and USA: NY to CA) (as = Hericium laciniatum/ramosum).

The most common host genus [in Scandinavia] is Betula (64.3%) [Norway 30%; central & northern Sweden 41.8% and Finland 75.2%], followed by Populus, predominately tremula, (18.1%) [Norway 40%; Sweden 23.6% and Finland 14.5%];
“In Denmark the commonest host tree is Fagus sylvatica, and only one find from Betula was reported by Knudsen and Pedersen (1984). The Norwegian hosts were Betula sp., Populus tremula and Sorbus aucuparia, in this order. In [southern] Sweden, 21.8% of the collections derived from Fagus sylvatica;
“Collections also exist from Acer platanoides, Alnus sp., Populus tremula, Ulmus sp., Salix sp. and Tilia cordata. In two Swedish collections, Abies was indicated as the host, but samples of the wood were lacking and it was impossible to confirm the determination; these collections also represented H. coralloides in the present sense.” (Sweden);
Additional Scandinavian collections were reported on Acer platanoides, Alnus incana & Alnus glutinosa, Betula pubescens & Betula pendula, Populus balsamifera, Salix spp, Tilia cordata & Ulmus sp.;
“These records indicate that in northwestern Europe H. coralloides grows almost exclusively on hardwoods;
“In Central Europe H. coralloides favours Fagus sylvatica, but has also been reported from the genera Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Fraxinus, Juglans, Morus, Pyrus, Quercus and Ulmus.” 

Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988.

“Woody plants (live trees, bark and dead wood). 

It grows on the stumps and dead trunks of deciduous trees, mainly birch, rarely beech, elm, alder, oak, linden, aspen, in mixed and deciduous, occasionally coniferous forests.” [citing Nikolaeva 1961].

In Western Siberia, it is found mainly on [..] small-leaved species (birch, aspen).” [possibly drawn from  Red Book of the Novosibirsk region 2018?]

Russian Red Book online (Mycology.su).

“Most commonly on Acer spp., frequent on Fagus and Betula, single collections on Ulmus, Carya, and Fraxinus. It is the only species seen on cottonwood and aspen (Populus spp.) in the west. Single collections on Alnus (Oregon) and live oak (California), and in Alaska on Betula and Populus.” Harrison 1973 (as Hericium ramosum).

“Grows on stumps and trunks of dead hardwoods, mainly birch, rarely beech, elm, alder, oak, linden [Tilia sp.], aspen […] occasionally in conifer forests” Russian Red Book; Plants (Russian Federation).

“On decayed wood, fir, beech, &c.” Massee 1892 & Stevenson 1886 (England).

“Decayed log” ATCC (UK).

“Hardwood logs” Ostry et alia 2011.

“upon oak and other trees” Gray 1821:652 (UK).

“dans les fentes des vieux arbres et sur les vieilles poutres” [in the fissures of old trees and on old logs] Chevalier 1826:279 (France) (merges coralloides and ramosum). 

“on the oldest tree trunks, and mainly on oaks.” Letellier 1826.

“On la trouve sur plusieurs sortes d’arbres, sur-tout sur le chêne en France, en Italie & en Allemagne” Paulet 1793:427.

“Fruits from dead hardwood logs and stumps,” “Saprobic and possibly parasitic…typically fruiting from fallen hardwoods branches and stumps, but very rarely reported from the wounds of living hardwoods (perhaps as a result of misidentification)” Kuo website.

“Grows only on deciduous wood, usually poplar.” Henderson 1981.

“On hardwood logs” Mycoweb (California) (as H. ramosum).

“Grows on prostrate trunks of trees of various kinds.” Hyams 1900 (North Carolina, USA).

“On dead standing hardwood.” BCRC (Taiwan) (as H. ramosum).

“Grows in damp areas on dead wood from native and introduced trees” (9:20), “on dead wood such as native and exotic logs and stumps.” “normally found on damp decaying wood in sheltered locations.” (4:227) Hubregtse 2018 (Australia).

Substrates described as “dead stumps”, “large logs”, “fallen dead very rotten trunk” Atlas of Living Australia (Lists 39 records from NSW, Australia; many of which were submitted as H. clathroides.)

 “Permanent shade. […] along sides of very wet rainforest trunk on ground”. Substrates described as “on fallen tree leaning up slope”, “on rotting log on a sloping moist, shaded gully”, “on very dead, decorticated log”, “on dead fallen wood”, “on very rotten log”, “rotting stump”, “on dead wood of 6 metre high stump”, “in large tufts on old logs and may be gregarious”, “gregarious on large decaying log” ALA (Lists 34 records from Queensland, Australia; many submitted as H. clathroides.) 

“A large mass had formed low down on a living tree trunk, well below the track”. Substrates described as “tall dead trunk”, “upright tall dead trunk”, “on tree trunk”, “standing dead tree”, “near river in deep shade […] standing tree”, “large upright trunk”, “trunk of dead tree”, “on trunk of dead tree 1.5m above ground”, “near river in deep shade […] standing tree”, “wood, trunk”, “on underside of fallen branch of native tree”, “dead log (15cm diameter) which was in ground”, “on dead treefern frond […] not sure of identity”, “wet forest, base of dead standing tree” ALA (Lists 56 records from Victoria, Australia; many submitted as H. clathroides.). 

Reported from a variety of cool wet habitats in Tasmania: “Riverine rainforest”, “wet riverine environment”, “Cool temperate mixed forest. The myrtle side of the forest”, “In beech forest”, “Mixed cool temperate forest with Nothofagus cunninghamii and Eucalyptus obliqua”, “Eucalypt rainforest with Nothofagus, laurel, Pomaderris and satinwood”, “Mixed wet forest: Acacia melanoxylon, Nothofagus cunninghamii, Monotoca glauca”, “Mixed cool temperate forest with myrtle” “Cool temperate forest with Eucalyptus, myrtle, leatherwood and native laurel”, “Mixed myrtle, manferns, leatherwood, sassafras”, “wet forest with Sassafras”, , Reported in Huon pine / Nothofagus rainforest, in forests with Nothofagus predominating, commonly reported from “wet sclerophyll” habitat and in “cool temperate mixed forest, dominated by Nothofagus cunninghamii, manferns and sassafras”, “Site was logged many years ago”. Reported substrates were a familiar mix: “Large troup on rotting log”, “fallen log “, “standing dead tree”, “dead tree trunk”, “tree trunk”, “rotting stump”, “stump of a rotting tree”, “very rotten stump”, “tree buttress or stump”, “fallen to ground, decaying”, “magnificent display up entire dead tree trunk”, It was found on several living Eucalyptus. ALA (Lists 162 records from Tasmania, Australia).

Many reports from New Zealand’s beech forests. Substrates described as “dead wood”, “standing stump”, “rotten stump”, “dead trunk”, “rotting tree trunk”, “dead standing tree”, “fallen wood”, “large log”, “rotting log”, “rotten log”, “wet rotted log”, “very rotten log”, “decayed fallen log”, “hardwood log” (in broadleaf podocarp forest), “rotting bark on dead standing trunk”, “bark of living tree”, “tree” (no indication if live or dead). ALA (Lists 67 records from New Zealand; the vast majority as Hericium clathroides. Plus 8 additional records of the same as Hericium sp.). 

The reports from New Zealand and Australia need more study to establish if they represent one or two species. The very slender branched and long toothed specimens are quite striking by comparison to the rest. 

Colenso 1889 attempted to propose Hydnum novae-zealandiae as a new species; commenting that it was different in form from a single Hydnum laciniatum he had encountered some 40 years earlier. His newer specimen was collected from a Beilschmiedia tawa; which is not uncommonly represented as a host tree in the coralloides/laciniatum collections that are detailed at ALA. He included no illustration but his account is interesting in view of the other collection reports. Colenso considered these to be rare in New Zealand. It might be wondered if the increase of reports in subsequent years was more heavily affected by the impact of New Zealand’s logging industry or the increased frequency of nature-minded forest visitors due to tourism OR if Colenso’s difficulty in finding more specimens in the 19th century  perhaps reflected the Maori’s known enjoyment of the fungus as food?

“On decayed fir, beech, ash, &c.” Cooke 1871 United States)

Occurring on Abies (fir) and Picea (spruce). Gobice 2013. [May refer to alpestre/flagellum?]

Log in conifer forest. Thind & Khara 1975 (Jammu-Kashmir, India)

As H. caput-medusae:
“on the dead woods” Letellier 1826;
“On trunks of trees” Cooke 1871 (United States);
“On trunks” Massee 1892 & Stevenson 1886 (England).

Beware of this name as it does not have consistency of application between authorities.

Hericium clathroides

[Given as accepted species in Index Species Fungorum. Most workers consider this to be a synonym for coralloides. Some (such as Thongbai et alia 2015) reserve clathroides for a New Zealand find that is most often housed in Australian herbariums as coralloides, or some workers (such as Maas Geesteranus) limit coralloides to being a conifer lover, and ignore the reports of hardwood loving coralloides in North America, Asia, Australia, NZ and Europe. Some recognize clathroides AND coralloides. Additional confusions between alpestre and coralloides may also exist.]

Abies sp. (fir) Tanchaud 2015 (France) (as = H. ramosum).

Betula pendula (white birch) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Astapenko & Kutafyeva 1990 (Russia) (as = H. clathroides).

Betula, Fagus and Quercus Thongbai et alia 2015 (New Zealand).

Fagus sylvatica (beech) Bisko et alia 2016 (Moldavia, Czech Republic); Stasińska 1999 (NW Poland); “Fallen decayed trunks of Fagus sylvatica and other deciduous trees, and exceptionally on Abies” Hallenberg 1983 (Sweden).

Populus tremula (quaking aspen) Ginns 1985 (Sweden); Cybertruffle’s Robigalia cited Astapenko 1990:290. (1 record from Russia).

Quercus incane [sic] Karun & Sridhar 2016 citing Thind & Khara 1975 (Himachal Pradesh, India). [Quercus incana is now Q. leucotrichophora.]

“Galio sylvatici-Carpinetum with Fagus”, “Deschampsio flexuosae-Fagetum (=Fago-Quercetum, Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum)”.
Lisiewska 2006 (Poland) (as = Hericium ramosum).

“ad truncos pineos putridos inventum.” [“Found on rotten pine trunks.”] Persoon 1794 (Russia near Ob River).

The host accounts given suggest a re-examination of either identifications or synonyms might be in order.

Atlas of Living Australia lists: 

39 records from NSW, Australia; many of which were submitted as H. clathroides;

34 records from Queensland, Australia; many submitted as H. clathroides;

56 records from Victoria, Australia; many submitted as H. clathroides;

67 records from New Zealand; the vast majority as Hericium clathroides. (There are 8 additional records as Hericium sp.). 

The majority of those were on hardwoods but that is not true for all of them. 

More details can be found in the H. coralloides softwood hosts reports list.

See also tthe entry for H. flagellum (which includes the former entries for H. alpestre).

Hericium cirrhatum 

[Increasingly accepted name for Creolophus cirrhatus.]

Acer platanoides

Acer spp.

Aesculus hippocastanum

Alnus incana

Alnus nepalensis

Betula pendula

Betula spp. 

Carpinus betulus

Eucalyptus sp. (?) 

Euodia lunuankeenda [now = Melicope lunu-ankenda]

Fagus spp. 

Fagus sylvatica

Fraxinus spp.

Populus spp.

Populus tremula

Prunus sp.

Quercus robur

Quercus spp.

Salix spp.

Salix caprea

Salix fragilis

Sambucus sp.

Sorbus aucuparia

Tilia sp.

Ulmus spp. 

Acer spp., Betula spp., Fagus sylvatica and Quercus spp. “Fallen or cut trunks and branches; damaged parts of standing trees.” Boddy et alia 2011 (UK).

Acer platanoides (Norway maple), Aesculus hippocastanum (Horse-chestnut), Alnus incana (grey alder), Salix caprea (pussy willow), Salix fragilis (crack willow), Sorbus aucuparia (mountain-ash), Quercus robur (European oak), Ulmus spp. (elm) mentioned as occasional Scandinavian host trees; a report on Sambucus (Norway) [citing Gulden & Stordal 1973] Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (Scandinavia).

Alnus nepalensis (Nepalese alder) “on decaying wood” Das & Sharma 2009-2010 (Sikkim, India).

“in the crevices of live Euodia lunuankeenda tree trunk” Karun & Sridhar 2016 (Western Ghats of Karnataka, India). 

Eucalyptus sp. (Host ID given as “probably”) “On standing trunk.” Atlas of Living Australia (Queensland, Australia)

Fagus sylvatica, Populus sp., & Quercus sp. mentioned as hosts in Bisko et alia 2016 (Ukraine).

Fagus & Quercus mentioned as hosts in Rastetter 1983 (France).

Populus sp. “on poplar trees” Doğan et alia 2005 (Turkey).

Quercus sp. trees on “dead wood” Afyon et alia 2005 (Turkey).

Tanchaud 2011 commented on only one find occurring on “hardwood” in France. Tanchaud 2018 added a 2nd collection on an oak branch.

Oaks (“sur chêne”) Bourdot & Galzin 1927 (France); (“chênes”) Michel 2007 (France).

“on a decaying trunk of an oak” Das & Sharma 2009-2010 (Uttarakhand, India).

Salix sp. (willow) “branch” Doğan & Öztürk 2006 (Karaman, Turkey).

Tilia sp. (tilden) “stump” Doll 1979. Also on Fagus. (Germany)

“By far the most commonest host genus [in Scandinavia] is Betula (69.5%) [Norway 73.7%; Sweden 61.3% and Finland 73.2%], followed by Populus (25%) [Norway 15.8%; Sweden 29% and Finland 24.1%]”; “In Denmark […] found on Fagus sylvatica only”; “most frequent hosts are Fagus sylvatica, Betula species and Carpinus betulus” (Central & South Europe and European USSR); also found on “species of Quercus and Prunus”; Nine host trees were reported in Germany [citing Kriesel 1987]. Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988.

“predominantly saprophytic, but it sometimes seems to grow as a parasite of living trees, emerging from fairly large and fresh wounds. C. cirrhatus appears within a few years after the tree has fallen or has been felled […] frequent occurrence in well-illuminated, fairly open sites”; shows “a distinct continental preference” Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988 (Scandinavia)

“standing trees and fallen branches and logs. Usually beech [Fagus]. Sometimes ash [Fraxinus], elm [Ulmus] and oak [Quercus] and possibly Betula pendula” [silver birch] Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership 2003 (UK).

“du chêne et du hêtre” [on oaks and on beech] Chevalier 1826:274 (France); Kastelwald near Colmar, on oak; Fir forest near Mulhouse on Fagus. Rastetter 1983 (France).

“dead wood of Fagus” Thongbai et alia 2015 (Europe).

“on large dead stems of deciduous trees, especially beech.” “predominately on the islands” Hansen & Veesterholt 2002 (Denmark).

On wood of deciduous trees. Domański et alia 1960 (in the valley of Volotsaty stream, SE Poland) (as Hericium diversidens (Fr.) Nikol.).

“on dead hardwood wood of birch, beech, oaks and others, on stumps and logs” Snowarski (Poland).

“On trunks of various trees.” Massee 1892.

“On a beech-tree. Epping Forest” Stevenson 1886.

“Oak, beech, birch, and fir trunks.” Rea 1922.

“dead fallen log” Atlas of Living Australia (VIC, Australia) ALA also includes two collections from Tasmania and two possible collections from Queensland.

Harrison 1984 gives two accounts of cirrhatus being collecting in the USA; one in New Mexico and one in Colorado.

Commonly described as too tough to be edible. Rea 1922 commented on the smell and taste being pleasant and the species being edible.

Hericium botryoides 

[Given as accepted species in Index Species Fungorum. I have not yet located any molecular work .]

Quercus myrsinaefolia (Chinese evergreen oak) On living trunks (“Ad truncos vivos.”) by Ito & Otani, in Otani 1957 (Japan).

This was presented to be a new species based on: 

1) Different habitat: on a live tree of this species; whereas H. erinaceus was said to fruit on dead trunks of other Quercus species and Castanopsis cuspidata.

2) Having a salmon-pink or light yellowish-orange color with yellow flesh; rather than “whitish, then yellowish” with white flesh in H. erinaceus.

3) Having a botyroidal growth form. “Compound tubercular mass 18×13 cm” compared to H. erinaceus’s “Simple tubercular mass 5–30 cm diam.”

4) Having shorter subulate spines., 5—10 mm long arranged all of the surface; H. erinaceus was said to have 10—60 mm long straight spines hanging downward and no spines on the upper surface.

5) Gloeocystidia cylindrical with capitate apex; gloeocystidia of H. erinaceus cylindrical or fusoid, not capitate.

 6) Spores subglobose or ovoid 4.5–6.5 x 4.5–6 µm; compared to H. erinaceus having globose or ovoid 5.5–7 µm spores. 

7) This taxa has also been commented upon for significance of having non-amyloid (hyaline to slightly flesh-colored) spores reported but it is also noteworthy that, in this same paper, Hericium erinaceus was similarly reported to show a hyaline reaction (non-amyloid) for its spores. AND it is also noteworthy that other workers have claimed a hyaline reaction for erinaceus spores (for example BCRC lists a hyaline reaction both for H. erinaceus and also for “H. ramosum”) suggesting there may be divergent approaches to staining or a possible misinterpretation of colors based on cultural color definitions?

Only point 5 is actually potentially significant as H. erinaceus can apparently share all of the other features.

Ito and Otani’s fungus seems most likely to be an immature H. erinaceus colored by adverse conditions of moisture and/or temperature. 

Compare to Burdsall’s “Hericium erinaceum ssp. erinaceo-abietis”, or to Nikolaeva’s Hericium pytchogasteroides, or to our notes concerning an odd erinaceus encountered in Mendocino County. The latter has subglobose to ovoid spores up to 5.25 x 7 µm.

Hericium botyroides does not appear to have ever been collected a second time.

Hericium bharengense
[Given as accepted species in Index Species Fungorum, The description included molecular work.]

Tsuga dumosa, (Himalayan hemlock) on “dead and slightly decomposed log” & “on a decaying log” Das et al. 2011  (Sikkim, India).

 

Hericium americanum 

Abies concolor

Abies grandis

Acer glabra

Acer negundo ?

Acer nigrum ?

Acer rubrum

Acer saccharinum

Acer saccharum

Acer spp.

Alnus sp.

Betula alleghaniensis

Betula lutea

Betula papyrifera

Betula sp.

Carya ovata

Carya spp.

Carya tomentosa (?)

Fagus grandifolia

Fagus sp.

Larix laricina

Ostrya virginiana 

Picea engelmannii

Platanus spp.

Populus balsamifera

Populus spp.

Populus tremuloides

Populus trichocarpa

Pseudotsuga menziensii

Pseudotsuga taxifolia

Quercus garryana

Quercus hypoleucoides

Quercus rubra

Quercus rubra var. borealis

Quercus sp.

Tsuga heterophylla (?)

Tsuga spp.

Ulmus thomasii

Abies concolor (white fir) Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Washington).

Abies grandis (grand fir) Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Washington); USDA ARS GRIN collections listings (Montana) (latter as H. caput-ursi).

Acer glabra (Douglas maple) Gilbertson et alia 1974 (Pima Co., Arizona) (as caput medusae)(identity might merit examination?)

Acer negundo (box elder) Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin) [This may have been a coralloides renamed as americanum.].

Acer rubrum (red maple) Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin) [This may have been a coralloides renamed as americanum.].

Acer saccharinum (silver maple) Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin).

Acer saccharum (sugar maple) Nordin 1954 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. erinaceus) (entry through frost cracks, dead branches, stubs & scars; heartwood decay in butt and trunk); “decay in live” Ginns 1984 (Ontario, Canada); Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. erinaceus); Magasi 1966 (Canada) (as H. erinaceus); Anonymous 1960 (no location given). Five collections were suspected to be on this host. USDA ARS GRIN collections listings (Quebec) (as H. caput-ursi).

Acer spp. (maple) Roger’s mushrooms (Ontario, Canada, under H. ramosum); on live or dead trunks: Ginns 1986 citing Pomerleau 1980 (Ontario, Canada); Morel Mushroom Hunting Club (Georgia, USA) as a form of Hericium coralloides, see www.morelmushroomhunting.com/herricium_coralloides_var_rosea.htm I’m assuming this identification as H. americanum based on its host, its appearance and the pink coloration.

Alnus sp. (alder) USDA ARS GRIN collections listings (“Canada – Maine. Desert Island”); “stump” same source (Rhode Island-Connecticut) (latter as H. caput-ursi).

Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch) “decay” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada); also “decayed” Betula alleghaniensis ATCC (Canada) and also Ginns 1984 (Ontario, Canada). A collection was listed as H. erinaceus in Magasi 1966. Ginns 1985 & 1986 dismissed all occurrences of erinaceus in Canada. (Canada); Conners 1967 (New Brunswick & Nova Scotia) (as H. erinaceus). (Magasi & Conners both gave as the synonym Betula lutea)

Betula papyrifera (white birch) “decay” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada); Conkers 1935 (BC) (as Betula subcordata).

Betula sp. (birch) Magasi 1966 (Canada); Ginns 1986 cited Magasi 1966; Wehmeyer 1950 (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island) (as H. coralloides). 

Carya ovata (shagbark hickory) “standing” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada).

Carya sp. (hickory) on log in Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada); found on log in Banker 1906 (USA) (as H. coralloides).

Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory) One collection was suspected to be from this host. USDA ARS GRIN collections listings (Rhode Island) (as H. caput-ursi).

Fagus grandifolia (American beech) Harrison 1973 (common in Nova Scotia in earlier times following a blight but absent in 1973) also alluded to in Harrison 1961; both as basidiome and in decay, Ginns 1985 (Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia); Wehmeyer 1950 (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island) (as H. coralloides); Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. erinaceus and as H. coralloides); Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (New York) (as H. coralloides); preferred host according to Banker 1906 (USA & Canada) (as H. coralloides) but this host is not listed in Day & Nair ND; Magasi 1966 (Canada) (as H. erinaceus); Anonymous 1960 (Maine, New York, Vermont, West Virginia).

Fagus sp. (beech) Ginns 1985 (Pennsylvania, Ontario); USDA ARS GRIN (eastern North America). 

Larix laricina (tamarack) “decay in” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada).

Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam) Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. erinaceus).

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) Anonymous 1960 & Shaw 1974 (Idaho, Montana, Washington). [Compare these collections at USDA’s database against those reported as abietis.]

Platanus sp. (plane tree) Ginns 1984 (Pennsylvania). 

Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar) McArthur 1966 (Alberta) (as H. coralloides); Ginns 1986 gave (NWT, BC, Canada) but this is not supported in his references; USDA ARS GRIN cited Gilbertson & Lombard 1976 (Minnesota). (Gilbertson & Lombard 1976 listed this as H. coralloides.)

Populus sp. (aspen) Glaeser & Smith 2013 (Arizona, USA); Anonymous 1960 (northwestern USA); Shaw 1973 (Washington). (The latter two should be suspected of being coralloides that were wrongly renamed H. americanum.

Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) “decay in” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada).

Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) Shaw 1973 (Idaho)

Pseudotsuga menziensii (Douglas-fir) Shaw 1973 (Washington & Oregon); Anonymous 1960 (northwestern states) (as Pseudotsuga taxifolia). (Both of these should be suspected of being abietis misidentified as H. americanum. [USDA ARS GRIN lists this as H. erinaceus.]

Quercus garryana (Garry oak) Lowe 1969 (Canada) (as H. coralloides).

Quercus hypoleucoides (silverleaf oak) Gilbertson et alia 1974 (Cochise Co., Arizona) (as caput medusae) (identity might merit examination?)

Quercus rubra (red oak) Hanlin 1966 & Campbell et alia 1950 (Georgia, USA).

Quercus rubra var. borealis (northern red oak) Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (Ontario, Canada) (as H. erinaceus and as H. coralloides) (both as Quercus borealis).

Quercus sp. (oak) Grand 1985 (North Carolina); Ginns 1986 (Canada).

Tsuga heterophylla (Canadian hemlock) on wood, Ginns 1986 (Canada). Uncertain if this entry is correct. Ginns cited Lowe 1977 which is not accessible. The previous version of the same document Lowe 1969 does not include this host.

Tsuga sp. (hemlock) Ginns 1985; Stalpers 1992 (both New York, USA).

Ulmus thomasii (rock elm) “decay in” Ginns 1985 (Ontario, Canada)

“On beech and hickory logs” Banker 1906 (as H. coralloides).

“On wood, especially of Carya and Fagus spp” USDA ARS GRIN (eastern North America).

“old logs, dead stubs, or cankers on living trees with heart rot. It has been reported on Fagus, Acer, Carya and Quercus. Collections usually recorded as occurring on rotting deciduous logs. In Michigan, most commonly reported on Acer spp., but Fagus is the most common host over its entire range. Populus has been considered a common substrate, but oddly enough, there are no collections on this host in the University of Michigan Herbarium. The species is limited in North America to east of the Great Plains, and north of North Carolina and Tennessee.”
 Harrison 1973 (as Hericium coralloides).
[Carya is hickory which some commercial growers have reported won’t support Hericium growth in cultivation.]

“Saprobic and possibly parasitic; […] fruiting on dead hardwood logs and stumps, or from the wounds of living hardwoods; documented to fruit (rarely) on conifer wood;” Kuo website.

“growing on hardwoods” “on wood of hardwoods and conifers” Henderson 1981.

“white rot on the logs and standing trunks of hardwoods and conifers” Glaeser & Smith 2013 citing Binion et alia 2008. This reference to conifers may have involved confusion with abietis but those of Ginns 1985 and also Stalpers 1992, both reporting it on Tsuga in New York, clearly do not.

“[…] all Canadian cultures labelled H. erinaceus were reassigned to H. americanum. The presence of H. erinaceus in Canada could not be confirmed.” Ginns 1985. Ginns DID keep the name erinaceus for many collections from the USA.

In our cultivation of this species, Hericium americanum did great on Notholithocarpus densiflorus (tan-oak) sawdust media, and in liquid culture, but the mycelium would not grow at all on big-leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) even when the logs were very heavily plugged.

Potentially questionable americanum entries

Kroeger & Berch 2017 listed Hericium americanum among the fungi occurring in British Columbia.

Abies concolor (white fir) 

Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Washington).

Abies grandis (grand fir) 

Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Washington); 

USDA ARS GRIN collections listings (Montana) (latter as H. caput-ursi).

Acer glabra (Douglas maple) 

Gilbertson et alia 1974 (Pima Co., Arizona) (as caput medusae)

Acer negundo (box elder) 

Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin)

Acer rubrum (red maple) 

Day & Nair ND (Wisconsin) 

Cedrus deodara (deodar cedar) 

Ahmad et alia 1997 (Pakistan). (as = H. caput-ursi) (From USDA ARS GRIN)

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) 

Anonymous 1960 & Shaw 1974 (Idaho, Montana, Washington). 

Populus sp. (aspen) 

Glaeser & Smith 2013 (Arizona, USA); 

Anonymous 1960 (northwestern USA); 

Shaw 1973 (Washington). 

Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) 

Shaw 1973 (Idaho)

Pseudotsuga menziensii (Douglas-fir) 

Shaw 1973 (Washington & Oregon); 

Anonymous 1960 (northwestern states) (as Pseudotsuga taxifolia). 

Quercus hypoleucoides (silverleaf oak) 

Gilbertson et alia 1974 (Cochise Co., Arizona) (as caput medusae) 

Hericium alpestre

Hericium alpestre is still commonly encountered as a name, and until fairly recently was predominately favored in use, but it is increasing being dropped in favor of H. flagellum.] See the former H. alpestre entries under that name.

Hericium abietis

Abies amabilis

Abies concolor ?

Abies grandis

Abies lasiocarpa

Abies nobilis

Abies procera

Abies sp.

Picea engelmannii

Picea sitchensis

Pinus contorta

Pinus ponderosa

Pseudotsuga menziesii

Tsuga heterophylla 

Tsuga mertensiana

Tsuga sp.

Abies amabilis (Pacific silver fir) decay in tree, Ginns 1985 (Vancouver Island, BC, Canada); also Allen et alia 1996 (BC, Canada); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada); USDA ARS GRIN collection list (Copper Canyon & Vancouver Island, BC, Canada); Significant source of decay. Yellow pitted trunk rot “living”, fruiting on trunks, Buckland et alia 1949 (BC); Isolated from dead wood on a live tree, Aho & Filip 1982 (Canada); substantial source of decay: Filip et al. 1984 (Washington).

Abies concolor (white fir) An isolation from wood is listed at USDA ARS GRIN but the reference given (Aho & Filip 1982) is not accurate so it is presently unclear to me if this host is correct or not (Oregon).

Abies grandis (grand fir) Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Montana, Washington); USDA ARS GRIN collection list (4 Idaho collections, 1 was by Weir in 1916); Shaw 1973 & Maloy 1968 (Idaho); ATCC (Canada); “decay in”, “basidiome on” Ginns 1985 (Vancouver Island. BC, Canada); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada).

Abies lasiocarpa (subalpine fir) Harrison 1973 (Canada); Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (BC, Canada); Anonymous 1960 (Idaho, Washington); Shaw 1973 (Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington).

Abies nobilis (noble fir) USDA ARS GRIN collection list (Oregon) (Collected by Weir in 1916); “decay”, Ginns 1985 (Idaho?).

Abies sp. (fir) Three collections. Pilley & Trieselmann 1969 (BC, Canada).

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) Martin & Gilbertson 1980 (Idaho, Montana, Washington); USDA ARS GRIN collection list (Washington).

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann’s spruce) Lawrence & Hiratsuka 1972 (BC, Canada) (as H. laciniatum) [Ed.: suspect this may be H. abietis?].

Picea sitchensis (sitka spruce) Martin & Gilbertson 1980 (Alaska); Lowe 1969 & Ziller 1957 (BC, Canada).

Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine) ; USDA ARS GRIN collection list (Big Springs, Montana).

Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) USDA ARS GRIN collection list (Idaho).

Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir) Shaw 1973 (Washington).

Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) Anonymous 1960 (Oregon, Washington); Shaw 1973 (Idaho, Oregon, Washington); “decay”, “on break on old windfall”, “old, large windfall”. Ginns 1985 (Queen Charlotte Islands, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada); Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada); USDA ARS GRIN collection list (se Alaska and also Queen Charlotte Islands, Copper Canyon, BC, Canada); Cash 1953 (Prince Edward Island, Canada) (as Hydnum abietis Weir); Significant source of decay. Yellow pitted trunk rot “living”, “standing tree”, “log”, Buckland et alia 1949 (BC).

Tsuga mertensiana (mountain hemlock) Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada); Molnar 1956 (BC, Canada) (POSSIBLE ID. Given as a new record of an undescribed species but said to cause a white-pitted rot so might have been H. coralloides?).

Tsuga sp. Anonymous 1964 (Canada).

Abies, Pseudotsuga (douglas-fir) and Tsuga were mentioned in Hallenberg et alia 2013.

“[…] causes a typical “white pocket rot” of Abies grandis (Dougl.) Lindl. [grand fir], A. lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt. [subalpine fir], A. procera Rend. [noble fir], Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm. [Engelmann spruce], Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. [western hemlock], Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco [douglas-fir] in the Pacific Northwest. In Canada, it was reported from British Columbia by Bier (1949) as […] causing a “long pitted trunk rot” of western hemlock and true fir.
Foster and Foster (1951) […] as a cause of a rot of western hemlock. In Alaska, Hydnum abietis was reported by Englerth (1947) as the cause of a serious rot of western hemlock, and in one instance of a rot of Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr [sitka spruce].
 All material that has been examined from California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington has been on conifers.”
Harrison 1973.

“[…] causes a butt and trunk rot of amabilis [Abies amabilis], grand [Abies grandis], and subalpine fir [Abies lasiocarpa], mountain [Tsuga mertensiana] and western hemlock [Tsuga heterophylla], and occasionally Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis]. […] “also been found on Douglas-fir and Engelmann spruce.” Allen et alia 1996 (BC, Canada).

“important decay organism in living and dead trees [firs], down wood, and logs”, “decay is found in the butt and lower stem of live trees, and also in stumps, snags and down wood.” Mallams et alia 2010. (Mountains of Oregon, Washington, and northern California).

Main hosts: Amabilis fir, grand fir, subalpine fir, Secondary hosts: Engelmann spruce, mountain hemlock, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, western hemlock, “Trunk” “The fruiting bodies are generally found on slash and on the ends of cut logs but they may also form on wounds on living trees.” Natural Resources Canada 2015 (Canada) (as “yellow pitted rot”)

“decayed conifer” ATCC (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada).

“growing on conifers” Henderson 1981 (Pacific NW).

“on conifer stumps or logs” Kuo website & also mykoweb.com.

DAVP identified the following as substrates reported for collections made in BC: Abies amabilis (2), Abies grandis (2), Abies sp. (4), Picea engelmannii (1), Picea sitchensis (1), Pseudotsuga menziesii (2), Tsuga heterophylla (25), Tsuga mertensiana (1) and on unidentified dead wood (4).

“decay in standing Abies or Tsuga” Ginns 1985 ( Vancouver Island, BC, Canada); “on break on old windfall on Abies or Tsuga” Ginns 1985 ( BC, Canada).

“on conifer logs” Anonymous 2014 (Alaska).

Hericium abietis —

comments and questions.

“Hericium abietis is restricted to western North America from northern California to southeast Alaska. It grows saprophytically on fallen or standing dead conifers, especially Abies spp.” Molina et alia 1993. See also Harrison 1973.

Occurrences for abietis have been reported outside of that range.

  Hericium abietis was said to have been collected in the Ukraine on an Abies sp. in Bisko et alia 2016. 

“on buried conifer wood” Kaya 2009 (Turkey) 

The species identification would seem to be in error due to the country. The account of Kaya 2009 may have referred to alpestre?

Both seem more likely to be a misidentification of another taxa? 

DAVP lists a collection of Hericium americanum from Tsuga heterophylla; also listing two of Hericium coralloides, one of them from a Picea species and another from Tsuga heterophylla. All three occurred in British Columbia so all of those are possibly Hericium abietis. 

Shaw 1973 listed H. coralloides (Washington & Oregon) and H. erinaceus (Oregon) on this species. Both are likely H. abietis. As is Anonymous 1960 (northwestern states) (as Pseudotsuga taxifolia).

Ginns 1985 commented on being unable to document any correctly identified coralloides occurring on a conifer.

Occurrence comments

Hericium species are often considered uncommon. Hericium erinaceus is regarded as threatened or endangered some places. It is a legally protected red-list organism in European countries such as England and over a dozen more. 

Disappearance of large expanses of intact old-growth forests is often blamed for their rare occurrence but a major contributor is the eagerness of humans to cut down trees inhabited by lion’s mane due to shedding large limbs and their upper portion. This is sometimes done out of a perception that the tree is therefore dangerous but firewood harvesting and fire-safety activity is commonly involved. If wanting to encourage more hericiums in the world, aggressive removal of their hosts should be replaced by leaving the trees standing and respecting what falls to rot into the ground as important habitat, especially when it is substantial in size. The usual pattern is for fruiting to repeat itself until the wood is exhausted. People frequently think the Hericium species to naturally be rarities or limited to expanses of old-growth forests but when their preferred habitats (injured, dying and dead trees) are left alone to decay they can be surprisingly commonly encountered inside of major urban areas. 

They are often readily overlooked due to fruiting best in mild but damp periods rather than excessively wet periods that can easily damage the carpophores. Fruiting on standing trees or inside of hollows and on the undersides of large fallen debris can also cause them to be missed even when they are abundantly present in the forest. It is also not uncommon for Hericium erinaceus to fruit much higher on trees than will permit safe recovery. This often also helps them be missed as most foragers are not looking for mushrooms that might be located 20 meters high in a tree. And fewer still will take the risk of climbing a tree to harvest a fungus that eats the tree from the inside out.

Molecular work in the genus Hericium.

A handful of attempts have been made towards creating a phylogenetic tree. The biggest point of agreement between them is illuminating that there is a need for work involving larger data sets including international comparisons of what are presently recognized as species. There are also a few collections included that were made outside of their known range of occurrence. These are noted but it is important to be aware not just of their existence but also of the fact that many distribution maps, molecular studies and even libraries of genomic sequences may include them as properly identified samples (for example a Hericium alpestre found in Taiwan was sequenced).

There are a number of specimens reported as having been collected from uncommon hosts. It is presently unclear what may be misidentified collections versus collections found on less common hosts and what part of the outliers may be legitimate discoveries indicating a broader range of occurrence. 

There is also a great need for incorporating a broader sampling of all known species from worldwide sources but Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Asia and PNW America need extra attention on what is presently considered coralloides or a synonym. In addition to the mess in North America and Europe, there is a softwood lover and a hardwood lover in Asia that need disentanglement.

Published studies of which we are aware:

Hibbett et alia 2000. Nature, 407: 506–508. Evolutionary instability of ectomycorrhizal symbioses in basidiomycetes.

Slippers et alia 2000. Mycologia 92(5): 955–963. Relationships among Amylostereum species associated with siricid woodwasps inferred from mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. [Included Hericium ramosum only as an outlier; gave no indication as to its point of origin.]

Larsson & Larsson 2003. Mycologia, 95(6): 1037–1065. Phylogenetic relationships of russuloid basidiomycetes with emphasis on aphyllophoralean taxa.

Miller et alia 2006. Mycologia, 98(6): 960–970. Perspectives in the new Russulales.

Albee-Scott 2007. Mycological Research, 111(6): 653–662. The phylogenetic placement of the Leucogastrales, including Mycolevis siccigleba (Cribbeaceae), in the Albatrellaceae using morphological and molecular data. [Paper included three Hericium species.]

Das et alia 2011. Cryptogamie, Mycologie, 32(3): 285–293. A new species of Hericium from Sikkim Himalaya India.

Hallenberg et alia 2012. Mycological Progress, 12(2): 413–420. Species complexes in Hericium (Russulales: Agaricomycota) and a new species, Hericium rajchenbergii, from southern South America.

Das et alia 2013. IMA Fungus, 4(2): 359–369. Two new species of hydnoid fungi from India.

Park et alia 2014. Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology, 14(4): 816–821. Molecular Identification of Asian Isolates of Medicinal Mushroom Hericium erinaceum by Phylogenetic Analysis of Nuclear ITS rDNA.

Chen et alia 2016. Persoonia, 37, 21–36. Global diversity and molecular systematics of Wrightoporia s.l. (Russulales, Basidiomycota).
[Paper included six Hericium species.]

Singh & Das 2019. Nova Hedwigia, 108(3–4): 505–515. Hericium rajendrae sp. nov. (Hericiaceae, Russulales): an edible mushroom from Indian Himalaya.

[Paper included nine Hericium species; several of which did not resolve nicely.]

There was also Atila et alia 2018. Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Food Sciences, 7 (5) 532–536. Genetic Diversity of Hericium isolates by ISSRR and SRAP Markers. 
  However, this last paper seemed to have reversed the images of abietis and coralloides (with their data also being suggestive of their samples being reversed). The authors also cited at least two references which were unconnected to their referenced data. 

Communication with the lead author indicated their source of both was a respected culture bank so it is not clear what to think but a look at the included images is recommended.

st point of agreement between them is illuminating that there is a need for work involving larger data sets including international comparisons of what are presently recognized as species. There are also a few collections included that were made outside of their known range of occurrence. These are noted but it is important to be aware not just of their existence but also of the fact that many distribution maps, molecular studies and even libraries of genomic sequences may include them as properly identified samples (for example a Hericium alpestre found in Taiwan was sequenced).

There are a number of specimens reported as having been collected from uncommon hosts. It is presently unclear what may be misidentified collections versus collections found on less common hosts and what part of the outliers may be legitimate discoveries indicating a broader range of occurrence. 

There is also a great need for incorporating a broader sampling of all known species from worldwide sources but Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Asia and PNW America need extra attention on what is presently considered coralloides or a synonym. In addition to the mess in North America and Europe, there is a softwood lover and a hardwood lover in Asia that need disentanglement.

Published studies of which we are aware:

Hibbett et alia 2000. Nature, 407: 506–508. Evolutionary instability of ectomycorrhizal symbioses in basidiomycetes.

Slippers et alia 2000. Mycologia 92(5): 955–963. Relationships among Amylostereum species associated with siricid woodwasps inferred from mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. [Included Hericium ramosum only as an outlier; gave no indication as to its point of origin.]

Larsson & Larsson 2003. Mycologia, 95(6): 1037–1065. Phylogenetic relationships of russuloid basidiomycetes with emphasis on aphyllophoralean taxa.

Miller et alia 2006. Mycologia, 98(6): 960–970. Perspectives in the new Russulales.

Albee-Scott 2007. Mycological Research, 111(6): 653–662. The phylogenetic placement of the Leucogastrales, including Mycolevis siccigleba (Cribbeaceae), in the Albatrellaceae using morphological and molecular data. [Paper included three Hericium species.]

Das et alia 2011. Cryptogamie, Mycologie, 32(3): 285–293. A new species of Hericium from Sikkim Himalaya India.

Hallenberg et alia 2012. Mycological Progress, 12(2): 413–420. Species complexes in Hericium (Russulales: Agaricomycota) and a new species, Hericium rajchenbergii, from southern South America.

Das et alia 2013. IMA Fungus, 4(2): 359–369. Two new species of hydnoid fungi from India.

Park et alia 2014. Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology, 14(4): 816–821. Molecular Identification of Asian Isolates of Medicinal Mushroom Hericium erinaceum by Phylogenetic Analysis of Nuclear ITS rDNA.

Chen et alia 2016. Persoonia, 37, 21–36. Global diversity and molecular systematics of Wrightoporia s.l. (Russulales, Basidiomycota).
[Paper included six Hericium species.]

Singh & Das 2019. Nova Hedwigia, 108(3–4): 505–515. Hericium rajendrae sp. nov. (Hericiaceae, Russulales): an edible mushroom from Indian Himalaya.

[Paper included nine Hericium species; several of which did not resolve nicely.]

There was also Atila et alia 2018. Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Food Sciences, 7 (5) 532–536. Genetic Diversity of Hericium isolates by ISSRR and SRAP Markers. 
  However, this last paper seemed to have reversed the images of abietis and coralloides (with their data also being suggestive of their samples being reversed). The authors also cited at least two references which were unconnected to their referenced data. 

Communication with the lead author indicated their source of both was a respected culture bank so it is not clear what to think but a look at the included images is recommended.

What this is and is not

This is simply a list of what host substrates have been reported. It is presently a work-in-progress that will continue to be revised and corrected based on feedback and suggestions.

Organization of the entries is first as a simple list of reported hosts. This is followed by the same set of hosts but with common names, references and collection comments. Collection comments that are broader or have unclear hosts follow that.

An index and cross-listings by-host and by-country/state of occurrence are also planned but those have not yet been completed.

Maybe some day some brave mycological taxonomist will produce a rigorous study leading to a monograph on the Genus Hericium but it is understandable why any sane person would want to steer clear of that nomenclatural morass. 

They say Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Consider this one fool’s attempted contribution to Hericium lovers everywhere. 

This is part of a larger project that is intended to help those people FIND Hericium species.

In the following list will be found:

Hericium abietis

Hericium americanum

Hericium bharengense

Hericium botryoides

Hericium cirrhatum

Hericium coralloides

Hericium erinaceus

Hericium flagellum

Hericium ptychogasteroides

Hericium schestunovii

Also included are some comments and questions on:

Hericium alpestre & 

Hericium clathroides

It is not my intention to say all of these should be respected or that other taxa should not be. This is just an attempt at creating a framework to work on. Attempts have been made to include notes about divergent opinions, points of confusion, potential errors, questions and unknowns.

Acknowledgements

First thanks goes to every author and collector who is cited herein as they did the actual work upon which this assemblage was based. Similarly to the assorted databases and herbarium records online. Those databases are included in the references listed.

I want to also thank a host of helpful friends, book vendors and information services for helping me obtain reference materials. 

However, this project would have been vastly more difficult if not for the activities of a growing number of organizations that exist with the apparent intentions of digitizing everything possible and/or making knowledge more readily available. In alphabetical order: Archive.org, Biblioteca digital del Real Jardín Botanico CSIC (Madrid), Biodiversity Heritage Project, MOBOT’s Botanicus, the Canadian Forest Service, Citationsy, Galica at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Google, Hathitrust, and Alexandra Elbakyan’s Sci-Hub.

Abies alba (silver fir) Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus); Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (Czech Republic & Yugoslavia). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]

Abies borisii-regis (Bulgarian fir) “on” Zervakis et alia 1998 (Greece). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]

Abies fabri (Yunnan fir) “Decay” Chen 2003 (Tibet, China).

Abies firma (Momi fir) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Abies homolepis (Nikko fir) Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

Abies sp. (fir) ATCC (Yugoslavia). [Ed.: was this H. alpestre?]; Teng 1996 (China); Kobayashi 2007 (Japan) (as H. ramosum); “On decayed” Berkeley 1860 (UK); Jussieu ex Barrelier 1714:118 (as Fungus ramosus], Pollini 1824 and also Micheli 1720:122 (all 3 Italy). Rastetter 1983 seems also likely to be H. alpestre?

Abies spp. (firs) “White rot” Chen 2003 (Tibet, Sichuan, China)

Agathis australis (kauri) “fallen log” This is a conifer. ALA (6 finds from New Zealand: all were submitted as Hericium sp.)

Archontophoenix cunninghamii (Bangalow palm) “Host in contact with soil, fallen, dead, rotten [trunk]” ALA (Queensland, Australia).

Cupressus sp. (cedar) Pollini 1824 (Italy).

Dacrydium cupressinum (rimu) “well rotted podocarp” ALA (New Zealand). This is a conifer.

Ganoderma (?) Reported to have occurred on a Ganoderma fruiting body. Most likely the perception of the Ganoderma being the actual host was not accurate. It seems more probable that they were sharing the same host and became intimately associated. Also reported associated on a single host with Ganoderma. ALA (NZ); H. coralloides was also reported to have been found sharing the same host with a Ganoderma and in one case this was noted to be following it. ALA (Tasmania, Australia).

Picea abies (Norway spruce) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia citing Burova 1968:363. (1 record from Russia).

Picea engelmannii (Engelmann’s spruce) Ginns 1986 (Canada) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?].

Picea glauca (white spruce) Brambilla & Sutton 1969 (Manitoba, Canada) (as H. laciniatum) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?]; Conners 1967 (BC, Canada) [Ed.: was this H. abietis?]; McArthur 1966 (Alberta, Canada) (as H. laciniatum); Conners 1967. (Alberta, Canada) (as H. ramosum). 

Picea sp. (spruce) Lowe 1969 (BC, Canada) (as H. ramosum) Noted as rare host; DAVFP (BC, Canada). [Ed.: Were these H. abietis?]

Pinus sylvestris (scots pine) “on trunk of supposedly living” Yurchenko 2002 (Belarus). [Ed.: H. alpestre?]

Podocarpaceae (these are conifers). Not identified beyond family. “dead standing tree” ALA (New Zealand).

Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) DAVFP (BC, Canada). [Ed.: H. abietis?]

Tsuga sieboldii (Southern Japanese hemlock) Kobayashi 2002 (Japan) (as H. ramosum).

“On decayed fir, beech, ash, &c.” Cooke 1871 United States)

Occurring on Abies (fir) and Picea (spruce). Gobice 2013.

Log in conifer forest. Thind & Khara 1975 (Jammu-Kashmir, India)

It grows on the stumps and dead trunks of deciduous trees, mainly birch, rarely beech, elm, alder, oak, linden, aspen, in mixed and deciduous, occasionally coniferous forests.” [citing Nikolaeva 1961]. Russian Red Book online (Mycology.su).

Hericium flagellum

[Proposed to be the accepted name of alpestre based on the rules of priority. Most of the following were as alpestre.]

Abies alba

Abies spp.

Fagus orientalis  ?

Picea abies ?

“on various conifers”

Abies alba (silver fir) Ginns 1984 (Austria); Schmid-Heckel 1988 (Germany). Ginns 1984 comments that H. alpestre is restricted to central and southern Europe and occurs almost entirely on Abies alba (citing Hallenberg 1983); Also in Ginns 1985 (Austria); “growing in the mountains of Central and South Europe […] grows almost solely on Abies, in Europe mostly A. alba (Nuss [Nuß] 1973). It has not been found in the Nordic countries.” Koski-Kotiranta & Niemelä 1988.

Abies sp. (fir) ATCC; Stalpers 1992 (near Ostrava & also Bohemia, Czechoslovakia); also Varstvo gozdov(Slovakia); “[…] almost exclusively been found on newly fallen trunks and on stumps of Abies in the mountains of C and S Europe” Hallenberg 1983. (Austria); Dead tree. Merino Alcántara 2011 (Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France); Abies spp. (firs) Rastetter 1983 (in Vosges in France) (as H. coralloides); Also mentioned in Bisko et alia 2016 (Ukraine) who presented alpestre as a form of abietis; Abies was also given in Persoon 1794:151.

Fagus orientalis (oriental beech) Cybertruffle’s Robigalia (unclear if Georgia or Ukraine). [as = H. alpestre forma caput-ursi]

On “conifers and especially on Abies”. Tanchaud 2015 (France) (as H. flagellum).

“des vieux pins & des sapins” (“old pines and fir”) Paulet 1793:427. 

“on various conifers” Rastetter 1983 (at Hohneck and in central and south Vosges in France) (as H. coralloides).

“fairly rotten large trunk of conifer tree, laying on ground, debarked, Picea abies or Abies alba.” EOL (Slovenia).

There have been, and continue to be, various points of confusion involving the divergent views of alpestre, clathroides [see comments], coralloides  [see list of softwood host reports] and flagellum.

wrt European collections:

Hallenberg 1983 reported Hericium alpestre to react with p-cresol.

Hallenberg 1983 also reported that Hericium coralloides had no reaction with p-cresol.

There are have been additional points of confused applications.

Carya sp. (hickory) “grows from dead wood” “on a dead hickory” Coker 1918 (North Carolina, USA) (as Manina flagellum)