Lion's Mane Mushroom
The lion's mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is a white, shaggy fungus that grows on dead and dying hardwood trees. Its cascade of dangling spines looks like a lion's mane, and it is eaten and used in traditional Asian medicine.
The lion's mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is a white, shaggy fungus that grows on dead and dying hardwood trees. Its cascade of dangling spines looks like a lion's mane, and it is eaten and used in traditional Asian medicine.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Lion's Mane Mushroom in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Opisthokonta lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Spines Instead of Gills
The spores develop on long, hanging spines. The fungus is a wood decayer, growing on oaks and other hardwoods, and is cultivated on logs and sawdust.
Health Claims
Compounds from the mushroom stimulate nerve growth factor production in cell cultures, which has led to interest in memory and nerve health. Clinical evidence is limited, so the claims remain unproven.
Culinary
The flesh is firm and tastes somewhat like crab or lobster when cooked. See Oyster Mushroom.
Lion's Mane Mushroom at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Hericium erinaceus |
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Basidiomycota |
| Class | Agaricomycetes |
| Order | Russulales |
| Family | Hericiaceae |
| Field Guide group | Opisthokonta: Fungi (True Fungi & Lichens) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Rounded, snowball-like white wood-decay fruiting body growing on hardwood trunks, covered not in gills or pores but in cascading, icicle-like hanging spines up to 5 cm long. |
| Order | Russulales |
| Substrate | Dead hardwood |