Overview

• The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mykologie selected Hericium erinaceus, also known as lion’s mane, as the 2026 honoree.
• Officials warn that wild populations are rare and threatened, and they urge the public to leave wild specimens undisturbed.
• The species depends on dead wood of old beech or oak and occurs across Europe, North and Central America, and East Asia, with German records concentrated in deadwood-rich mixed forests of the North-East Plain.
• Cultivated production is expanding for culinary use and as a medicinal mushroom, including roles reported in traditional Chinese medicine.
• Fresh cultivated fruiting bodies are sold through delicatessens and online retailers for up to €30 per kilogram.