Local Name
Gula Sok’o (1), Babuats’vera (tianet.) (2).

Description
Fruitbodies: The fruitbodies of Hericium erinaceus are large, rounded, irregularly bulbous, compact, white to creamy mass of 5–40 cm in diameter, arising from a thick lateral stripe, simple or with short, thick branches, white to brownish-yellow when old. Spines up to 2–7 cm long, hanging and often slightly wavy, like hair, white. Flesh: The flesh is white or whitish, not changing when sliced, fleshy and pulpy, it turns yellowish when it’s dry. Spores: The spores are 4–5.5 X 5–6.5 µm, egg-shaped, globose to subglobose or subellipsoid, smooth or minutely roughened, white, cream or yellowish.
Habitat: Often solitary on living trunks of deciduous trees or on fallen logs, especially on oak and beech, more rarely on other broad-leaved trees. Rare to very rare. Season: Summer, autumn.
Distribution: All regions of Georgia (3).

Uses
Edibility: Edible when young and fresh (1).

Tianeti — „Rare fungi, very tasty“ (2).

References
1. Nakhutsrishvili, I.G. (2007) Fungi of Georgia. Tbilisi: Buneba Printi.
2. Mamadashvili, T. (2014) Tianeti.
3. Nakhutsrishvili, I.G., et al. (1986) Flora of Spore-producing Plants of Georgia (Summary). Tbilisi: Metsniereba (Russian).