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Species Information
Summary: {See also Hericium Table.} Hericium abietis forms clusters of white to salmon buff, soft, icicle-like spines on dead conifers, with spores 4.8-5.3 x 4.3-4.9 microns. It is distinguished from H. americanum and H. coralloides by habitat and spore size, and differs somewhat in form as well. 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 referred to by Arora, 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.
H. abietis has the distribution BC, WA, OR, ID, AK, CA, CO, and MT, (Ginns).
Cap: 10-75cm or more wide and high, with "an open to compact branched framework from which tufts of icicle-like spines hang", the branches arising from a tough rooting base; "white to creamy, yellowish-buff, pale ochraceous, or salmon-buff", (Arora), bald pliable fleshy-fibrous branches up to 3cm thick, rebranching and ending in bundles of spines, some spines in interior of fruitbody on short knobs arising from the main branch; white to cream, bruising to yellowish gray and finally light ochraceous orange, on drying dark ochraceous orange, (Hall), up to 75cm high and 25cm wide, "arising from a solid tubercle, branching, open or compact"; "pinkish buff to yellowish or white and tending to stain yellow on bruising", (Harrison)
Flesh: firm, pallid, (Harrison)
Teeth: up to 2.5cm long, usually 0.5-1cm long, soft but brittle, "arranged in tufts or clusters that are mainly grouped at the branch tips", (Arora), up to 1cm long and 0.1cm wide, fleshy, awl-shaped, round in cross-section, (Hall), up to 1cm long, "when young appearing very short and stout, pointed, attached to the ends of branches or to nodules on them", (Harrison)
Stem: base is thick, tough, and rooting (Arora), knob-like and inserted into cracks in the wood (Hall), "attachment by a large solid, occasionally massive tubercle from which the branches develop", (Harrison)
Odor: mild (Harrison)
Taste: mild (Harrison)
Microscopic: "spores 4.5-5.5 x 4-5 microns, round or nearly round, smooth or minutely roughened, amyloid", (Arora), spores 4.8-5.3 x 4.3-4.9 microns, round to nearly round, smooth or finely punctate-roughened, amyloid, not cyanophilous; basidia 4-spored, 30-40 x 6.7 microns, clavate; cystidia 4.7-5.5 microns wide, elongate, "extending into and becoming part of the interwoven tramal hyphae of the spine, thick-walled, distributed sparsely throughout the hymenium except at the spine tip where their occurrence is more frequent, encrusted, with granular contents"; hyphae system dimitic, hyphae 2.7-13 microns wide, "with abundant thick-walled elements leading to cystidia in the spine trama, clamps present", (Hall), spores 4.5-5.5(6) x 4-4.5(5) microns, nearly round, finely roughened to smooth, strongly amyloid; basidia 4-spored, 25 x 5-7 microns, clavate; cystidia "present as flexuous hyphal structures" and scattered gloeocystidia 8-12 microns in diameter, originating from oleiferous hyphae; clamp connections usually present, (Harrison), spores 4.5-5.5 x 4-4.5 microns (Hallenberg)
Spore Deposit: white (Arora, Hall)
Habitat / Range
single or sometimes several together on dead conifers, especially fir and Douglas-fir, mainly in the fall, (Arora), Abies amabilis, A. concolor, A. grandis, A. lasiocarpa, A. procera, (all true fir), Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce), Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce), Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock), Tsuga mertensiana (mountain hemlock), (Ginns), on conifer logs, especially fir and hemlock, (Trudell), confined to coniferous wood in the Pacific Northwest (Harrison)
Similar Species
Hericium americanum is considered to have slightly longer spines (up to 4cm), to have slightly larger spores, and to favor hardwoods, (Arora, who refers to H. americanum as H. coralloides). H. americanum has longer spines 0.5-1.5cm versus less than 1cm for H. abietis, has longer spores, 5.5-7 microns versus 4.5-5.5 microns for H. abietis, and prefers hardwoods (Hallenberg(6)). |H. coralloides single teeth in a comblike pattern versus teeth in bundles for H. abietis, has narrower spores (2.8-4 microns versus 4-4.5 microns for H. abietis), (Hallenberg(6)). |H. abietis in one of its growth forms (formerly Hericium weirii) is similar to Hericium erinaceus which however grows on hardwoods, (Arora). |H. abietis in one of its growth forms (brevispineum) is extensively branched with very short spines (0.1-0.5cm) and resembles Hericium coralloides (Scop: Fr.) Pers., which, however, grows on hardwoods, (Arora who refers to Hericium coralloides as Hericium ramosum).
