''Grifola frondosa'' (also known as hen-of-the-woods, in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, ram's head or sheep's head) is a
polypore
Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside (see Delimitation for exceptions). They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypor ...
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
that grows at the base of trees, particularly old growth
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s or maples. It is typically found in late summer to early autumn. It is native to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Description
Like the
sulphur shelf
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetal
In chemistry, a nonmetal is a chemical element that generally lacks a predominance of metallic ...
mushroom, ''G. frondosa'' is a
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
that often grows in the same place for several years in succession. It occurs most prolifically in the northeastern regions of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, but has been found as far west as
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
.
''G. frondosa'' grows from an underground
tuber
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...
-like structure known as a
sclerotium
A sclerotium (; (), is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favo ...
, about the size of a
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
. The fruiting body, occurring as large as , rarely , is a cluster consisting of multiple grayish-brown
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
s which are often curled or spoon-shaped, with wavy margins and broad.
[ The undersurface of each cap bears about one to three pores per millimeter, with the tubes rarely deeper than .][ The milky-white stipe (stalk) has a branchy structure and becomes tough as the mushroom matures.
In ]Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, the can grow to more than .
File:Maitake mushroom.jpg, alt=A macro of a polypore mushroom, Maitake, a polypore mushroom
File:Maitake.jpg, A large specimen found in New York state
File:Maitake Mushroom Tempura 2021 Grifola frondosa 舞茸の天ぷら.jpg, Maitake Mushroom Tempura
is a typical Japanese dish usually consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. The dish was introduced by the Portuguese in Nagasaki through fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The word ''tem ...
Identification
There are no toxic look-alikes. This is a very distinct mushroom except for its cousin, the black staining mushroom, which is similar in taste but rubbery. Edible species which look similar to ''Grifola frondosa'' include ''Meripilus sumstinei
''Meripilus sumstinei'', commonly known as the giant polypore or the black-staining polypore, is a species of fungus in the family Meripilaceae. Originally described in 1905 by
William Alphonso Murrill as ''Grifola sumstinei'', it was transferre ...
'' (which stains black), ''Sparassis spathulata
''Sparassis spathulata'' is a species of fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organ ...
'' and ''Laetiporus sulphureus'', another edible bracket fungus
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
that is commonly called chicken of the woods or "sulphur shelf."
Uses
The species is a choice edible mushroom
Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi (fungi which bear fruiting structures that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye). They can appear either below ground (hypogeous) or above ground ...
. Maitake has been consumed for centuries in China and Japan[ where it is one of the major culinary mushrooms. The mushroom is used in many Japanese dishes, such as '']nabemono
''Nabemono'' (鍋物, なべ物, ''nabe'' "cooking pot" + ''mono'' "thing"), or simply ''nabe'', is a variety of Japanese cuisine, Japanese steamboat (food), hot pot dishes, also known as one pot dishes and "things in a pot".
Description
Nab ...
''. The softer caps must be thoroughly cooked.
Research
Although under laboratory
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...
and preliminary clinical research
Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...
for many years, particularly for the possible biological effects of its polysaccharide
Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wa ...
s, there are no completed, high-quality clinical studies for ''Grifola frondosa'' .
See also
*Medicinal fungi
Medicinal fungi are fungi that contain metabolites or can be induced to produce metabolites through biotechnology to develop prescription drugs. Compounds successfully developed into drugs or under research include antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Edible fungi
Experimental cancer treatments
Fungi in cultivation
Fungi described in 1785
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America
Medicinal fungi
Meripilaceae
Taxa named by James Dickson (botanist)