Rare lion’s mane fungus back in nature reserve

This 2014 Dutch video is about a lion’s mane fungus in Heiloo in the Netherlands.

Translated from Dutch conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten:

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015

Ranger Willem Regtop is pleased: after a few years he has found a Hericium erinaceus mushroom again in the woods of the Velhorst nature reserve in the Graafschap region.

This fungus is called in English “lion’s mane mushroom” and for good reason: the mushroom looks hairy, is the size of a football and is completely covered with soft yellow-white spines. The lion’s mane mushroom is on an old beech in Velhorst. It had for several years not been seen in this nature reserve.

Parasite

Hericium erinaceus is a parasite that mainly uses stem wounds on beeches or sometimes oaks. Ranger Willem hopes that people now again will be able to admire the fungus, which is fairly rare in the Netherlands, every year in the Velhorst.