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.