Hen of the Woods - Grifola frondosa
A large, fleshy, annual polypore with a clustered growth form aof many individual caps arising frm a common bassal stem. Caps are grey-brown in colour, blackening when bruised. The pores are large, angular and white from a woolly fertile surface, 2 - 4 per mm.
Photograph whole cluster and upper and lower fertile surface or individual caps to show pores; note host plant and substrate
Decduous trees, typically the base of oak
Summer and autumn.
Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.
Melinda Bell
Burbage, Elmesthorpe Plantation
07 October 2023
Melinda Bell
Swithland Wood
25 September 2025
pores onto stem as well
Melinda Bell
Burbage, Elmesthorpe Plantation
07 October 2023
Melinda Bell
Swithland Wood
25 September 2025
30cm across
Melinda Bell
Burbage, Elmesthorpe Plantation
07 October 2023
Margaret McLoughlin
Charnwood Lodge NNR
17 September 2019
Margaret McLoughlin
Charnwood Lodge NNR
17 September 2019
Margaret McLoughlin
Charnwood Lodge NNR
17 September 2019
Melinda Bell
Swithland Wood
25 September 2025
large common stem underneath
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
Enter a town or village to see local records
MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Hen Of The Woods
- Species group:
- Fungi
- Kingdom:
- Fungi
- Order:
- Polyporales
- Family:
- Grifolaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 12
- First record:
- 18/09/2016 (Watson, Ashley)
- Last record:
- 17/10/2025 (Alton, John)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.