GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

GROWTH PARAMETERS 389
Description: Composed of downward, cascading, non-forking spines, up to 40cm. in diameter in the wild.
Typically white until aged and then discoloring to brown or yellow brown, especially from the top.
Distribution: Reported from NorthAmerica, Europe, China and Japan. Of theHericium species, this
species is most abundant in the southern regions of United States.
Natural Habitat: On dying or dead oak, walnut, beech, maple, sycamore and other broad-leaf trees.
Found most frequently on logs or stumps.
Microscopic Features: Spores white, 5.5-7.0 x 4.5-S.5p. Ellipsoid, smooth to slightly roughened.
Clamp connections present, but infrequent.
Available Strains: ATCC #62771 is an excellent, high yielding strain. Tissue cultures of wild collections
vary significantly in the size of the fruitbody at maturity. I prefer to clone from the mid-section
of the stem or pseudo-stem of very young specimens.
Mycelial Characteristics: Whitish, forming triangular zones of collected rhizomorphs, radiating
from the dense center section. (The mycelium can resemble the structure of a glaciated mountain (i. e.
Mt. Rainier) as seen from high overhead from an airplane.). If the top and bottom of the culture dishes
are taped together, evaporation is lessened with an associated pooling of carbon dioxide. This stimulates
the mycelium into aerial growth. As cultures age, the mycelia become yellow to distinctly
pinkish. Islands of young fruitbodies form in petri dish cultures incubated at 75° F. (24° C.) in two to
three weeks. Such fruitbodies are characterized by elongated, aerial spines ("spider-like"), which in
age, change from whitish to yellowish.
Figure 345. Miniature H. erinaceus fruitbody forming on malt extract agar medium.
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