Lion’s mane mushroom

Lion’s mane mushroom, (Hericium erinaceus), edible mushroom with medicinal properties that belongs to the order Russulales and the family Hericiaceae. It is widely found in the wild in the Northern Hemisphere, where the species prefers to grow on older beech and oak trees in temperate forests.

Distribution

This mushroom is native to North, Central, and South America, Europe, and Asia. In the Americas it is found in South Carolina and California in the United States and in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia. In Europe it grows mostly in Spain, central and southern France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It is also found in colder climates of East Asia, such as in Japan, and it is found in the wild in China, but only rarely.

Physical description and habitat

The lion’s mane mushroom grows in clumps of smooth white spines that dangle from a central base—a feature that has inspired several of its common names. The spines, which constitute the fungus’s fruiting body, are approximately 0.4–1.5 inches (1–4 cm) long, and they become yellowish as the fungus ages. The fruiting body as a whole is 4–10 inches (10–25 cm) tall and wide, but it can reach 11.8 inches (30 cm). Under magnification the spores appear roundish, colorless, and smooth to slightly rough.

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The preferred substrate of the lion’s mane mushroom is large old beech or oak trees—although it has also been found growing on other hardwood trees, such as maple and ash, and on younger trees as well as on stout logs and stumps of dead wood. It grows best in a humid and mild climate, usually forming its fruiting body between August and November in the United States. The mushroom is a parasite on living trees and a saprobe on dead ones. Its entry point on a tree is a crack, lesion, or other injury in the tree’s trunk or thick branches. There it grows and causes white rot, breaking down the lignin and cellulose in the cell walls of wood and using the wood’s carbon as food and as a cell-building material. The mycelium of the lion’s mane mushroom can live for many years on a tree, periodically sending out its fruiting body. After the tree is dead, the fungus will remain, slowly breaking down the organic matter and returning it to the soil.

Uses

The fruiting body of the lion’s mane mushroom is harvested for food, especially in East Asia and the United States. As a specialty mushroom used in gourmet cuisine, it can be increasingly found in grocery and specialty stores and at farmers markets. The mushroom’s flavor, considered best when the fungus is young, has been compared to lobster, crab, and other seafood. The mushroom can be used in soups, “crab” cakes, chowders, broths, sauces, pastas, and many other dishes.

Called houtougu (“monkey head mushroom”) in Chinese and yamabushitake (mountain monk mushroom) in Japanese, the lion’s mane mushroom is used in several Asian traditional medicine systems for keeping the liver, spleen, heart, and kidneys healthy. Western science has identified many health benefits associated with both the mycelium and the fruiting body of this mushroom. The fungus is a rich source of potassium and other essential minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds. Laboratory studies on animals and early-phase clinical trials have shown that it has antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and gastroprotective properties. Moreover, some studies suggest that the mushroom may be an important neuroprotective, neuroregenerative, and neurotrophic therapeutic agent; i.e., it may be able to stimulate the growth, maintenance, and activities of both developing and mature nerve cells. As such, it may help to treat Alzheimer disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson disease. Other studies have found the mushroom to contain bioactives that have the potential to treat cancer, diabetes, hyperglycemia, cardiovascular disease, and depression, among other diseases and conditions.

Threats and conservation

The main threats to the lion’s mane mushroom are loss and degradation of habitat. Logging and changing land use have led to the decline of old-growth beech and oak forests in many areas. Other threats include the removal of old oak and beech trees—especially damaged or dead ones—for firewood or forest management (eliminating potential fungus hosts to prevent infection). Diseases and the overharvesting of the mushrooms for food and medicine also threaten the species’ future.

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the lion’s mane mushroom as a species of least concern. However, the mushroom’s numbers are decreasing, and in some areas its populations are severely fragmented. The species is protected by law in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In some of these countries, it is protected in national parks and nature reserves. Conservation techniques include preserving old-growth beech and oak forests and managing forests sustainably so that old trees are left intact and large-diameter dead wood is left in place. Growing the mushroom artificially for consumption and medicinal use, instead of collecting it from the wild, may also help conserve the species.