You ask about how fast they grow. I followed several this year. On Sept 18 they were just emerging, tiny, fragile primordials the diameter of a nickel, less than an inch across and thin as a corn flake.
Five days later, (9/23) they were small rosettes about the size of a tennis ball cut in half (perhaps 3″ in diameter) with well defined segments that were destined to become the fronds.
On 10/06, they were three weeks old and the size of a head of cabbage, and I last visited them on 10/10 when I picked two which were basketball sized, perhaps three to four pounds in weight. Interestingly, there was another week-old rosette coming along at that last visit, but as we had heavy frosts in the following nights and I already had well over a dozen in the large basement fridge, I did not return to that tree.

My guess is that in this year, a 10 pound hen would have been about a month old. Incidentally, those I stored in the fridge (40F) with some moisture control were still in good shape some two and three weeks later.

Those that I left in the fridge uncovered dehydrated nicely, our first try at preserving them in this manner. We will let you all know how this experiment turns out.

At $10-15 dollars/pound, your hen was probably worth $100 to $150 if my math is correct. I hope you got a good meal in fair trade for your donation.

Bill

I’ll take your comments in reverse order. I have on very rare occasions found Grifola frondosus on Sugar Maple. That would be one tree in over a half century of collecting. At first I was skeptical, thinking there must be an old oak removed from that spot, but I have followed it for a few years and am now convinced that the Maple supports this fruiting. I have eaten it, but found the flavor to be thinner and less rich than those coming from Oaks.

By “Berkeley’s Polypore” I take it you are referring to Bondarazewia berkeleyi, (both the genus and species of this mushroom are named after mycologists). In Overholts’ classic text (Polyporaceae of the US, Alaska, and Canada)it is also known as Grifola Berkeleyi (Fries), Polyporus Beatiei Banning apud Peck, and Polyporus lactifluus Peck. There are about a dozen or so validly published synonyms for this species. See http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=293765 for the current list.

You probably use Lincoff’s Audubon Guide, given your choice of name for this mushroom.

Yes, it is commonly found on Oaks, and also other deciduous trees in the Northeast. The macroscopically similar B. montana fruits on some coniferous trees in the West. Some authors, Lincoff included, consider B. berkeleyi edible, but I have never met anyone who has admitted to have tried it. In my experience the young immature stage tends to occur in late June.

And bear in mind that there are many other Polypores which you will find growing on Oaks. The two volume North American Polypores by Gilbertson and Ryvarden is the current standard reference. Their 14 page index lists somewhere around 1,000 -1,200 species.

I recall finding one large interesting polypore at a foray in the 1980′s, making a full set of diagnostic photographs, carefully collecting and handling the voucher, bringing it back to the collection tables and asking the renowned resident Polypore expert, William Bridge-Cooke, for his pronouncement on it’s identification. He picked it up, turned it over, and with a sotto voce grunt handed it back to me. “Well, what is it?” I asked. “A young Polypore” was his terse reply.

End of story. As much as we have fun trying to identify the mushrooms which fruit in our region, stick to what you know and don’t try to eat everything in the woods.

Bill

Say is that gigantus mushroom also known as berkley polypore? Its big and on oak too. I hadnt seen it mentioned.

One little known tip– hens have been also known to fruit near certain species of maple; I’ll just leave it up to ya’ll to determine exactly which one!

leo in central ne

Yep. It is time for Grifola. They have just started to emerge here in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Since both of you are self proclaimed novices, let me again stress that you join your local mycological association. Locate a club near you here: http://www.namyco.org/clubs/index.html, and hurry. They are going out right now and you will want to join in on the walks and have the value of hands on expert consultation. Don’t fear being intimidated by these folks: they are among the most genuine and friendly people you arte likely to know.

Also, please check out the links to identification given in this (and other) posts on this web site: Just click on the “here” where the little hand appears. It will take you to another page with more information. Only the sketchiest of descriptions are given in the body of these articles, and you are right to want to know more.

Images, however good they may be, can carry us only so far. You should always check out your specimen with the more detailed descriptions given in reliable field guides. Sorry, for various reasons mushroom ID images sent to this site cannot be commented upon.

Join in with your local mycological association. They are collecting Hen of The Woods this weekend!

Good luck good collecting, and good eating.

Bill

Welcome to the blog. I am glad to know that you found the article helpful and even came back a second time. And thanks for the compliment.

Like you I also made the Meripilus/Grifola mistake, way back in the 1980′s when I was at a NEMF Foray in New Jersey. It was summer and was hot and humid. Walking across the campus of the Glassboro Campus I saw what I was sure was frondosus growing in a clump of shrubbery. I crawled under and after some effort and a great deal of sweat, came out with a more-or-less intact specimen that I proudly brought to the collection table and labeled “Polyporus frondosus” (Both Grifola and Meripilus were once in Polyporus but have since been segregated out.)

Alan Bessette came by, looked at it and said, “You had better check this one out with Dick” (Homola), his teacher and a chief mycologist at this foray. It took Dick just a glance to see what it really was, but I still needed to collect it a few more times before I was confident.

On another occasion a member of a local Mycological Association brought in and cooked up a quite large Meripilus. The members tried very hard to enjoy it, some actually managing to down a goodly portion before the mistake was noticed. Thankfully, Meripilus is not toxic, or many like us would have had a quite different story to tell.

Good hunting. I plan to start looking for frondosus here in Maine in the next few days.

Bill

I just revisited this article and have to say that it is perhaps the best article I have read on the Grifola frondosus.

Knowing that there are no look-alike poisonous polyphores in MA ro RI (where I hunt) has made me a little careless in my collection of the frondosus. Consequently, I made the rookie error today of mistaking a Meripilus giganteus for a hen and was trying to figure out why the darned thing was so hard to chew. It tasted almost identical to the frondosa (I even rehydrated some dried specimens from last year’s haul to comare) but I couldn’t get my teeth through the first piece. So I thought I had better do some research and figure out just where I went wrong. Your site led me to the answer. My giganteus looked identical to, and tasted just a bit milder than, some of the hens I had previously collected. The only real difference was the black bruising around the edges of the fronds and at the base cut. No bruising had been apparent at the time of harvest.

Mystery solved!