Hemlock Varnish Shelf

Since I posted my 1st mushroom picture a couple days ago [1], I figured I'd follow it up with another photogenic mushroom for Throwback Thursday. This 1 is probably a Hemlock Varnish Shelf mushroom. At least I got an iNaturalist confirmation on it. As far as identification goes:

  • The good news is that it doesn't appear to have any look-alike mushrooms that are poisonous.
  • The bad news is that it does have look-alike relatives, and without identifying the tree it was growing from, it's hard to tell some of them apart.
This mushroom does look varnishy though, doesn't it? Two of its similar relatives are:
  • Ganoderma lucidum - This is a European relative that's certainly out in California and Utah but can occasionally be found in the northeast, feeding off of hardwood trees.
  • Lingzhi (aka Reishi) - This mushroom is native to China and Japan, and it's probably not here in the US. It especially likes maple trees, and has long been used in Chinese and Japanese folk remedies. (As with a lot of folk medicine, there's plenty of disagreement on how effect they are.)
Since the Hemlock Varnish Shelf likes to grow on Eastern Hemlock [2] in particular and on conifers in general, the tree it's on actually does help identify it. In many cases these mushrooms will be essentially eating dead/decaying trees, though in some cases they'll be found growing on living trees [3].

Although none of the mushrooms I discussed are considered poisonous, they're also not great to eat. Once they look like this, they've got a woody texture and are supposed to be fairly bitter tasting, which doesn't sound too appetizing. If you catch them young when they're white/cream colored though, you probably could eat them without forcing them down. You can also make a sort of tea from them.

May 30, 2015 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 5514365, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] That was my 1st mushroom post, but it was not the 1st picture I've taken of mushrooms.

[2] As always, don't confuse hemlock trees with Poison Hemlock herbaceous plant.

[3] I'm not sure if, when they're growing on living trees, those trees are in a state of robust health.

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