Bear's Head

Appearance

The fruit body forms a compact, branched mass with long spines hanging down. The branches originate from a single, thick, tough base. The color of the fruit body ranges from white to creamy, light yellowish, to salmon-buff. The hanging spines are usually 0.5–1 cm long, although some may be as long as 2.5 cm ; they are soft and brittle, and typically grow as clusters at the tips of the branches. Typically, fruit bodies have dimensions in the range of 10 to 75 cm tall and wide, but they have been known to attain massive sizes; one noted specimen was about 100 pounds .

''Hericium abietis'' produces a white spore print. Spores are spherical or nearly so, smooth to slightly roughened, amyloid, and measure 4.5–5.5 by 4–5 μm. The hyphae are monomitic , and they have clamp connections.

Naming

''Hericium erinaceus'' is a lookalike spine fungus. It can be distinguished by its more compact fruit body structure that lacks multiple branches, in which the hanging spines all originate from a single thick tubercle. In ''Hericium coralloides'', the spines line the undersides of the branches, unlike ''H. abietis'', whose branches are arranged in clusters at the tip of branches.

Distribution

''Hericium abietis'' causes a white pocket rot of conifers; this is a form of wood decay featuring a selective attack on lignin and hemicellulose in wood. The fruit bodies grow singly or occasionally in small groups on the dead wood of conifers, especially fir and Douglas fir. It can also be cultivated on conifer sawdust. The species is found throughout North America.

Habitat

''Hericium abietis'' causes a white pocket rot of conifers; this is a form of wood decay featuring a selective attack on lignin and hemicellulose in wood. The fruit bodies grow singly or occasionally in small groups on the dead wood of conifers, especially fir and Douglas fir. It can also be cultivated on conifer sawdust. The species is found throughout North America.