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Species library › Sparassis › Sparassis americana
Fungi Partly documented

Sparassis americana

Eastern cauliflower mushroom

The eastern North American cauliflower mushroom forms a large, frilly, noodle-like rosette at the base of pines, where it causes a brown butt rot. It fruits in summer and autumn, often in the same spot year after year. Like its relatives it can be grown on supplemented conifer sawdust, though colonisation is slow.

Sparassis americana
Photo: This image was created by user Penny Firth (pfirth) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images.You can contact this user here., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Very humid airBand in Plantistry
Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest period

Where it grows wild

Arises from the roots or base of pines, both living and dead, as a parasite and saprobe causing brown rot.

Lowland to montane; few records carry an elevation, and the southwestern form grows in mountain pine forest.

Eastern North AmericaSouthwestern United StatesMexicoCentral America

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.