Hen of the woods

Description

The hen of the woods forms a large, bushy fruiting body 20-60 cm across, made of many thin, spatula-shaped caps in hazel, yellow-olive or grey-brown colour, growing from a common, branched base. The underside of the caps is white and covered with tiny pores, and the flesh is white, brittle, with a pleasant mushroomy smell.

It is a tree-dwelling fungus that grows at the base of trunks and on roots, mainly of oaks, less often hornbeams. Fruiting bodies appear in August and September, usually every year in the same place. In Poland it is rare.

It is under partial protection, so collecting it in the forest in Poland is against the law. Only cultivated fruiting bodies or ones from outside Poland (known as maitake) are allowed on the market. It is distinguished from similar polypores and the giant polypore by the small size of the single caps and growth almost exclusively on oaks. If you are not sure of the species, do not pick or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Fruiting body annual, large to very large (20-60 cm across; some descriptions give clusters up to 50 cm, rarely up to 150 cm), bushy-branched, made of many spatula-shaped caps growing from a common trunk. Single caps tongue-shaped or semicircular, flat, 4-10 cm (some descriptions give 2-10 cm), thin, brittle, hazel, yellow-olive to grey-brown in colour. Margins uneven, cut, often wavy, radially wrinkled.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Tubes short, 2-3 mm, whitish, running down the stem. Pores tiny, about 0.5 mm across (some descriptions give 1-3 pores per millimetre).

Stem

Branched, cream, common to many caps; the fruiting body grows from an underground tuberous structure (sclerotium) the size of a potato.

Flesh

Thin, up to 0.5 cm, white, fleshy; the fruiting bodies harden with age. Smell pleasant, mushroomy, taste mild. No data on colour change.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores colourless, broadly oval, slightly flattened on one side; dimensions - no data.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A tree-dwelling fungus, described as a parasite (growing on roots, stumps and at the base of tree trunks, also dead ones). Mainly oaks, less often hornbeams; according to some descriptions also old maples. Fruiting bodies often appear every year in the same place; it also occurs in anthropogenic habitats.

Distribution. Rare in Poland: about 130 sites reported up to 2020. Red list 2006: V (vulnerable to extinction). Under strict protection in 1983-2014, since 2014 under partial protection (Dz.U. 2014 item 1408). It is on threatened lists in many other European countries as well. Outside Europe it occurs in China and in eastern North America.

Fruiting. August-September in Poland; August-October in Europe.

What can it be confused with?

• Polyporus umbellatus (umbrella polypore) — Fruiting bodies attached to centrally placed stalks, with roundish caps, of a paler colour, whitish to light ochre.
• Meripilus giganteus (giant polypore) — Fruiting bodies much larger and wider, made of larger caps; grows on many tree species, whereas the hen of the woods grows almost exclusively on oaks.
• Bondarzewia mesenterica (polypore of fir forests) — Grows at the base of firs, has large, angular, uneven pores, and the fruiting bodies are made of larger, more spreading caps.
• Laetiporus sulphureus (chicken of the woods) — Detailed differences - no data.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The Japanese name maitake (舞茸) means "dancing mushroom".
• In Poland the species was under strict protection in 1983-2014, and since 2014 it has been under partial protection.
• The fruiting body grows from an underground sclerotium the size of a potato and usually appears for several years in the same place.
• In Japan maitake can reach over 45 kg.