Hericium
Genus of fungi
title: "Hericium" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["russulales", "russulales-genera"] description: "Genus of fungi" topic_path: "general/russulales" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hericium" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of fungi ::
| image = Hericium coralloides - Male Karpaty I.jpg | image_caption = Hericium coralloides | taxon = Hericium | authority = Pers. (1794) | type_species = Hericium coralloides | type_species_authority = (Scop.) Pers. (1794) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Soplówka_03_-_Centrum_Nauki_Kopernik_w_Warszawie.jpg" caption="''Hericium'' at the [[Copernicus Science Centre]] in Warsaw"] ::
Hericium is a genus of edible mushrooms in the family Hericiaceae. Species in this genus are white and fleshy and grow on dead or dying wood; fruiting bodies resemble a mass of fragile icicle-like spines that are suspended from either a branched supporting framework or from a tough, unbranched cushion of tissue.
Their distinctive structures have earned Hericium species a variety of common names—monkey's head, lion's mane, and bear's head are examples. Taxonomically, this genus was previously placed within the order Aphyllophorales, but recent molecular studies now place it in the Russulales.
Taxonomy
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Igelstachelbart,_Hericium_erinaceus.jpg" caption="doi=10.2307/3754097}}"] ::
Phylogeny
In 2004, the phylogenetic relationships of Hericium species were analysed by comparing the rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequences of H. abietis, H. alpestre, H. americanum, H. coralloides, H. erinaceum, H. erinaceus and H. laciniatum. This analysis separated H. erinaceum from the six other Hericium species, and showed that H. erinaceus, H. abietis, H. americanum, and H. coralloides are closely related each to other but genetically diverged from H. alpestre and H. laciniatum. Molecular genetic markers have been developed that allow for quick and sensitive identification of Hericium species using the polymerase chain reaction.
The family Hericiaceae, to which Hericium belongs, belongs to the russuloid clade of basidiomycetes, making it phylogenetically related to the Auriscalpiaceae, the Bondarzewiaceae, and the Echinodontiaceae.
Etymology
Hericium means hedgehog in Latin. See Wiktionary entries Hericium and ericius.
Description
The fruit bodies typically have short stalks and are attached laterally to the host tree. Mature specimens are easily identified by drooping spines which hang down; the spines may be arranged in clusters or more usually, in rows. Positive identification of immature specimens can be more difficult as they often begin as a single clump, developing their branches as they age. They have no caps and contain spiny amyloid spores and numerous gloeopleurous hyphae filled with oil droplets. The spores are spherical to ellipsoid, smooth or covered with very fine warts.
Distribution and habitat
Hericium species are found extensively in the northern parts of the world, including North America, Europe, and Asia, often growing on old, fallen logs in dark and shaded areas of deciduous and Alpine forests.
Uses
Hericium species are commonly found and consumed in North America and China. The species is readily cultivated. Hericium is used in the folk medicine of China and Japan, but there is no high-quality clinical research as of 2020 to indicate that it has any medicinal or biological properties. The genus Hericium produces the phytochemicals, erinacines and hericenones, which are cyathane metabolites under basic research.
Species
::data[format=table]
| Image | Scientific name | Description | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Hericium abietis 109093.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium abietis | Found on dead wood of conifers, especially fir and Douglas fir. |
| [[File:Hericium americanum Ginns 923240.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium americanum ("Bear's-head tooth") | Solitary or clustered on dead or living deciduous wood, rarely on conifers |
| Hericium bembedjaense | The only Hericium species that has pleurocystidia and grows in Central Africa | Cameroon | |
| author1=Das K | author2=Stalpers J | author3=Eberhardt U | |
| [[File:Hericium botryoides GBIF observation 2513152920 (cropped).jpg | 120px]] | Hericium botryoides | Found growing on Quercus myrsinifolia. |
| 120px]] | Hericium cirrhatum ("Spine-face") | This species' fruiting body is branched, with shell-shaped caps. | southern England |
| [[File:Hericium clathroides (Scop.) Pers. (15689953975).jpg | 120px]] | Hericium clathroides | |
| [[File:2009-09-25 Hericium coralloides (Scop.) Pers 58068 crop.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium coralloides ("Comb tooth"; "coral spine fungus") | last= Hallenberg N. |
| [[File:Igelstachelbart, Hericium erinaceus.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium erinaceus ("Bearded tooth", "tree hedgehog", "monkeyhead") | Found on living oak and beech trees. |
| [[File:Hericium fimbriatum GBIF observation 1927782630 1.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium fimbriatum | |
| Hericium fimbrillatum | East Asia | ||
| [[File:Hericium in the Karwendel 3.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium flagellum | author1=Kiyashko AA |
| [[File:Hericium novae-zealandiae 204071753.jpg | 120px]] | Hericium novae-zealandiae ("Pekepeke-Kiore") | Found growing on rotten logs in native forest, traditional applications in rongoā herbal medicine |
| Hericium ptychogasteroides | Observed growing on dead trunk of Quercus mongolica in Ussurisky Nature Reserve. | Russia | |
| Hericium rajendrae | Himalayas | ||
| Hericium rajchenbergii | Grows on dead stems of Lithraea molleoides | author1=Hallenberg N | |
| author1=Das K | author2=Stalpers JA | author3=Stielow JB | |
| :: |
References
References
- Miller LW.. (1933). "The genera of Hydnaceae". [[Mycologia]].
- (2004). "Molecular identification of Asian isolates of medicinal mushroom ''Hericium erinaceum'' by phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ITS rDNA". Journal of Microbial Biotechnology.
- (2002). "PCR-based sensitive detection of medicinal fungi ''Hericium'' species from ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences". Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin.
- (2003). "Phylogenetic relationships of russuloid basidiomycetes with emphasis on aphyllophoralean taxa". Mycologia.
- (2006). "Perspectives in the new Russulales". Mycologia.
- link. (2011-10-09, Quarterly Newsletter of the Edmonton Mycological Society)
- Volk T. "''Hericium americanum'', the pom pon mushroom, a.k.a. Lion's mane, the bear's head tooth fungus, monkey head, or for this month, the icicle mushroom". Fungus of the Month for January 2003.
- Kuo M. "The Genus ''Hericium'' (MushroomExpert.Com)".
- (1990). "Fungi without Gills (Hymenomycetes and Gasteromycetes): an Identification Handbook". Chapman and Hall.
- "Best Edible Wild Mushrooms - AmericanMushrooms.com".
- (2007). "Fungal Families of the World". CABI.
- Bing-Ji Ma. (2010). "Hericenones and erinacines: stimulators of nerve growth factor (NGF) biosynthesis in ''Hericium erinaceus''". Mycology.
- (October 2019). "A new and unusual species of Hericium (Basidiomycota: Russulales, Hericiaceae) from the Dja Biosphere Reserve, Cameroon". Mycological Progress.
- (2011). "A new species of ''Hericium'' from Sikkim Himalaya (India)". Cryptogamie, Mycologie.
- (2003). "Useful fungi of the world: the monkey head fungus". Mycologist.
- Hallenberg N.. (1983). "''Hericium coralloides'' and ''H. alpestre'' (Basidiomycetes) in Europe". Mycotaxon.
- (2022). "Systematic revision of Hydnum species in Japan". Mycologia.
- (2013). "Hericium alpestre Pers.". Red Book of Karachaevo-Cherkessia.
- (Jul 2019). "Assessment of In Vitro Bioactivities of Polysaccharides Isolated from Hericium Novae-Zealandiae". Antioxidants (Basel).
- (Oct 2019). "Characterization of the bioactivities of an ethanol extract and some of its constituents from the New Zealand native mushroom Hericium novae-zealandiae". Food Funct.
- "Афиллофоровые грибы (Basidiomycota) заповедника Уссурийский(Приморский край, Дальний Восток России)".
- (2019-05-15). "Hericium rajendrae sp. nov. (Hericiaceae, Russulales): an edible mushroom from Indian Himalaya". Nova Hedwigia.
- (2012). "Species complexes in ''Hericium'' (Russulales, Agaricomycota) and a new species - ''Hericium rajchenbergii'' - from southern South America". Mycological Progress.
- (2014). "Two new species of hydnoid-fungi from India". IMA Fungus.
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