Found this today on the side of a rotting Fir log in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. What have I found?
Cool! It's in the genus Hericium. Others more familiar with this genus or your area can probably narrow it down to species.
Oh god...that's it. I'm moving to BC. What a magnificently awesome fellow!!!!!!!!! I found a TINY Bearded Tooth the other day....only about the size of a golf ball. How large was this tooth? It's just gorgeous. ~big sigh~
I know C Wick. Everyone says that about me! What did you think of the mushroom? All kidding aside... thanks guys for the ID. Now after reading that it is edible I am mad I didn't collect the damn thing .... also it was about 4-5 inches across.
lol...I've yet to actually get me a 'fun fellow'........still working on it though. (I think I drink too much coffee if I'm typing that...lol) I've also yet to eat any of the Hericium species? They're just too beautiful to me to destroy in a meal. Last night at my local Myco club meeting, we were all discussing the results of eating different H. species also...and people who said no other fungi ever made them sick, got sick eating these. It was then argued at the age of the fungi, if it was maybe larva that made them sick.....if they were just sick in general.....or what. A great size too! I've only seen one of these kinds besides the Bearded one...and I just sat there and cried like a moron before getting the photos.
I ate a hericium (corraloides I think) last year with no ill effects. I was probably not qualified to cook it properly but found it okay and not much like seafood. A lot of this is grown for sale to fancy restaurants. CHicken of the woods made both me and my best friend sick, both L. gilbersonii and L. conifericola. It would seem that any new species (to you) should be approached with caution, eating a little first and more later once okayed. Good hunting
