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10 October 2009

Old Man's Beard

Check out this crazy fungus species that I photographed at Miller Woods in Lake County, Indiana...


This edible mushroom is called Old Man's Beard (Hericium erinaceus), and is also known as Lion's Mane, Tooth Fungus, Hedgehog Mushroom, and Pom Pom Mushroom. For more information and a couple of additional photos, visit my post at Get Your Botany On!.

Thanks to Dr. Don Ruch for verification of my identification of this odd fungus.
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6 comments:

  1. BethOctober 10, 2009 at 1:36 AM

    Ooo, that is so cool! Maybe Ken can confirm this for me, but I seem to recall seeing something similar at Swamp Angel. It was more widespread on the broken end of a fallen tree, rather than a discrete growth as in this picture. He pointed it out to me, and neither of us had seen anything like it before.

    My word verification was "sporr." Haha!

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  2. Scott NamestnikOctober 10, 2009 at 8:42 AM

    Hey Beth. I think I remember seeing some type of coral fungus at Swamp Angel... maybe that's what you saw.

    "Sporr"..... how fitting!

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  3. Ken RichesOctober 10, 2009 at 12:31 PM

    Looks like some type of coral plant. Not sure I would rush to eat it :o)

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  4. Scott NamestnikOctober 11, 2009 at 3:12 PM

    It supposedely tastes a bit like lobster... I'd try it!

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  5. AnonymousDecember 14, 2009 at 5:40 PM

    how do you prepare it to eat ? please answer

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  6. Scott NamestnikDecember 14, 2009 at 10:08 PM

    Anonymous...

    I've never eaten this mushroom, but did some searches online. You may want to check the following webpages...

    http://www.sdmyco.org/200712Dec.htm
    http://www.pbase.com/rsub8/cooking_with_fungi (scroll to the bottom)
    http://forums.mycotopia.net/edible-medicinal-mushrooms/15708-hericium-erinaceus-lions-mane-mushroom-bearded-tooth-mushroom-hedgehog-mushroom.html (read through the comments)

    I'm sure you can find more if you look. I searched for "cooking Hericium erinaceus."

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