Hen of the woods look-alikes (Grifola frondosa, maitake): how to tell them apart

How to identify hen of the woods

Hen of the woods, also called maitake, is a polypore that grows as a large rosette of many small, overlapping, spoon-shaped grey-brown caps on a single branching white base, at the foot of an oak. Each cap is small, a few centimetres across, and the underside is white and pored, with the pores running down the branches. There are no gills. The whole cluster can be 20 to 50 cm across (First Nature) and up to 3 feet wide and 50 pounds (Missouri Department of Conservation).

The genus name on this page is not in dispute, but the look-alike's is: the black-staining polypore of North America is Meripilus sumstinei, and North American guides that call it M. giganteus are using a European name (MushroomExpert.com). In Britain the equivalent is the giant polypore, M. giganteus, which First Nature also calls the black-staining polypore. Both bruise black. The comparison below works for either.

Confirm these features

• A rosette of many small caps, each only a few centimetres across, not a few large ones.
• A white pore surface underneath that does not bruise when you press it with a thumbnail and wait.
• One short, thick, white, branching base joining all the caps.
• Growing at the base of an oak or on its stump, in late summer or autumn.
• White, firm flesh that does not change colour when cut; no black marks on cut edges after a few minutes.
• Grey to grey-brown caps; a bright orange-and-yellow cluster is chicken of the woods, a cream one with huge caps is probably not a hen.

Dangerous look-alikes

No source used here calls any hen of the woods look-alike deadly, and the hen itself is a polypore, which keeps it away from the gilled killers. The risk is a wrong mushroom in the pan and, in the case of the black-staining polypore, a stomach upset.

Black-staining polypore (Meripilus sumstinei; in Europe the giant polypore, M. giganteus)

Tell apart: Fewer, larger caps, 5 to 20 cm across (MushroomExpert.com), 2 to 8 inches (Missouri Department of Conservation), greyish to dull yellow, in a cluster that can reach 32 inches. The pore surface is pure white when young, with much tinier pores (6 to 8 per mm against the hen's 1 to 3), and it "bruises black" when cut or handled; the cap margin and flesh darken too (Missouri Department of Conservation, MushroomExpert.com). First Nature says the European giant polypore's pores "turn black when bruised" and that its main host is beech, where the hen's is oak. Full comparison: hen of the woods vs black-staining polypore.

Risk: The sources disagree. The Missouri Department of Conservation calls it "a good edible, when young and fresh", and Wild Food UK says confusing the two is not a concern. First Nature says the giant polypore has "caused stomach upsets in some people" and is "probably best avoided altogether". This page treats a rosette that bruises black as "not a hen", which is the only reading that works in both countries.

Berkeley's polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi)

Tell apart: Thick-fleshed and cream-coloured with large caps (Missouri Department of Conservation), in a rosette at the base of hardwoods.

Risk: Not rated here; the sources used give no edibility statement for it. Not a hen.

Umbrella polypore (Polyporus umbellatus)

Tell apart: Each cap is round, centrally depressed and sits on its own stem, all branching from a common base, so the cluster looks like a mass of tiny umbrellas rather than overlapping fronds (First Nature, MushroomExpert.com). Much rarer in Britain and Ireland.

Risk: Not rated here. A clearly different structure once you look at single caps.

Cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis species)

Tell apart: Ribbon-like folds rather than caps with pores (Missouri Department of Conservation), paler, and in Europe growing only at the base of conifers, usually Scots pine (First Nature).

Risk: Not rated here. Host tree and the absence of pores separate it.

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)

Tell apart: Bright orange and sulphur yellow, in shelves on the trunk rather than a rosette at the base. People confuse the names more than the mushrooms. See chicken of the woods identification.

Risk: Edible with conditions, and some people react to it.

Where and when it grows

Hen of the woods lives with oaks. MushroomExpert.com describes it as weakly parasitic on living oaks and other hardwoods, causing a white butt rot, then feeding on the dead wood, which is why rosettes appear at the base of the trunk and on stumps, and why they return to the same tree in subsequent years. The Missouri Department of Conservation gives September to November and a statewide range; MushroomExpert.com gives summer and fall, widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains and rare in the west. In Britain and Ireland First Nature calls it uncommon and localised, and Wild Food UK gives August to November. The black-staining polypore shares the habitat exactly: around stumps and at the bases of living hardwoods, especially oaks, July through September in Missouri, and on beech in Britain, which overlaps the hen's season at both ends.

Before you eat any

First Nature calls the hen "a very good edible species if gathered when young", adding that like other polypores it becomes "too tough and leathery to eat when it is fully mature". The Missouri Department of Conservation rates it a choice edible and, as for any wild edible, says: "Be absolutely sure of the ID, and only eat a small amount the first time you try it to avoid a reaction", using only fresh, tender portions. Wild Food UK notes it "can cause allergic reactions in a small amount of people". Older rosettes also taste acrid (First Nature) and smell sickly as they decay.

Cook it. Cut the rosette from its base, check the cut edges for black staining over a few minutes, and discard anything that darkens. Confirm your first hen with a local expert, with the whole cluster in hand; the bruise test is simple, but a photo cannot do it for you.

Using an app to check a find

A photo of the whole rosette shows its size, colour and position at the base of a tree, which narrows the find to a hen or one of the rosette-forming polypores above. A close photo of a single cap shows whether the caps are small and many or large and few, and a photo of the underside shows pores rather than gills. No photo can bruise the pores, measure pores per millimetre or confirm the host is oak. Mycoscout asks for the cap, the underside, the base and the habitat, leads with the verdict, shows its confidence and names the black-staining polypore as the look-alike with the bruise test as the tell. It is a field companion, not a clearance to eat; confirm the find with a local expert and cook it well.

Frequently asked questions