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)