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Tiered Tooth
Edible 
Autumn 
Summer 
Possibly the commonest species of the Europe-wide rare genus Hericium, in the UK. Once you saw it, it is rather unmistakable. Despite it not being protected as a species in the UK, we recommend only collecting photos, not its fruit bodies!
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | Tiered Tooth, Pigau Haenog (CY), Kolczatek Strzępiasty (PL), Tüskés Sörénygomba (HU) |
| Scientific Name | Hericium cirrhatum |
| Synonyms | Hericium diversidens, Steccherinum cirrhatum, Hydnum cirrhatum |
| Season Start | Jul |
| Season End | Nov |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | |
| Average Cap width (CM) |
Fruiting Body
The fruiting body could be up to 20 x 20 cm in diameter. It is formed of several, irregular, tiered and overlapping, individual shell or oyster-like lobes which are 3–8 cm in diameter. The upper (sterile) surface is uneven, granular or covered with fine scales, white to off-white, sometimes with a pinkish tinge. The fertile underneath is similar in colour to the cap, and covered in off-white to white, hanging spines or ‘teeth’, which makes the whole fruit body white when young, off-white to yellow with age.
Spines
Up to 1–1.5 cm long, pale, off-white to white, yellowing with age.
Flesh
2–3 cm thick, white to cream. Soft and spongy at first, becoming tougher with age.
Habitat
Saprotrophic on dead or dying hardwoods, most of all Beech, although rarely it can be found on other deciduous trees, such as Birch. Some authors list it is as a weakly parasitic species, while others consider it as a necrotrophic parasite. Mostly grows individually on logs or stumps, but – according to the First Nature website – it is ‘rarely appearing in the same place for more than a year or two‘. It causes white-rot.
Possible Confusion
It is a very distinctive species, hard to confuse with anything else.
Taste / Smell
Smell indistinctive, taste mild, pleasant. However, despite it not being a protected species in the UK, we recommend only collecting photos, not its fruit bodies!
Frequency
Occasional to rare in England, rare in Wales and the Republic of Ireland. It has been recorded on the Channel Islands.
Spores
Spore print is white. Spores almost spherical (subglobose); their surface is smooth and amyloid (which proves that the spore wall does contain starch in traces).
Other Facts
The species was listed in the Red Data List (1992) as Vulnerable, but it was later removed from the Red Data List (2006).
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