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Species Information
Summary: {See also Hericium Table.} Arora discusses nomenclatural intricacies in this genus, and the approach of Ginns(5) from 1993 is used here, in which H. ramosum as referred to by Arora is called H. coralloides (Scop.: Fr.) Pers. and H. coralloides, as the hardwood lover similar to H. abietis with pure white color when fresh, slightly longer spines up to 4cm, and slightly larger spores is called H. americanum Ginns. Ginns(22) in publishing the new name specifies the description as that of H. coralloides in Harrison(6), from which the description below is derived except where specified.
Ginns(5) gives distribution as BC, WA, OR, ID, NS, ON, PE, PQ, AZ, CO, GA, IA, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NH, NY, PA, TN, VT, and WV.
Cap: up to 30cm across, main branches stout and branching repeatedly; white, becoming cream-colored when old, one collection vinaceous pink when young
Flesh: fleshy, brittle to tough; white
Teeth: 0.5-1.5cm long, "stout, tapering to a slender tip, in terminal clusters on the ends of branches and from lateral nodules"; white becoming cream-colored when old
Stem: "represented by a short pseudorhiza that soon branches, or as a tubercle with short branches, attached by strands penetrating the rotting wood"
Chemical Reactions: flesh amyloid in Melzer''s reagent, but no color reaction to KOH
Microscopic: spores 5.5-7.0 x 4.5-6.0 microns, round to nearly round, finely roughened to almost smooth, amyloid, white; basidia 25-30 x 5-6 microns, clamped; gloeocystidia frequently projecting 25 microns above hymenium, arising from deep within context, "sharp-pointed or beaded on tips, 6-9 microns wide", "filled with oily contents that may ooze out as droplets in KOH mounts", the droplets often hardening into conidia-like shapes; hyphae of trama monomitic, hyphae up to 20 microns wide, "variably inflated, thick-walled, with lumen almost closed in some, and septa usually with clamps", the amyloid reaction of tramal hyphae can vary in intensity, (Harrison), spores 5.5-7 x 4.5-6 microns (Hallenberg)
Spore Deposit: white (Miller)
Habitat / Range
found on wood of hardwoods and conifers, (Ginns(5)), on old logs, dead stubs, or cankers on living trees with heart rot, (Harrison), late summer and fall (Miller)
