Lentinus crinitus: Fringed Sawgill ID Chart and Look-Alikes
— views
Lentinus crinitus, the fringed sawgill, is a small, leathery wood mushroom with a hairy, funnel-shaped cap and crowded gills that run down a short stem. It is a pantropical species. In the US, most records come from Florida and the Gulf South. Indigenous groups in South America eat it, but no wild specimen should be eaten without expert confirmation.
This page shows how to identify Lentinus crinitus, where it occurs in the US, and how to separate it from other sawgills. It also checks the claims about its edibility and medicinal use.
Key Takeaways
- Look for stiff hairs on a sunken or funnel-shaped cap, a short leathery stem and crowded gills that run down the stem.
- Florida holds more than half of US records. Louisiana, Georgia and Texas come next.
- Toothed gills do not confirm this species. Tiger sawgill and scaly sawgill have them too.
- Hairs point toward Lentinus crinitus or Panus neostrigosus. Scales point toward tiger sawgill or scaly sawgill.
- Scaly sawgill grows on conifer wood and treated lumber, and it is not a close relative.
- The old "inedible" label is too simple. Indigenous groups eat it, but safety for a wild find is not established.
Sawgill Comparison Chart: Lentinus crinitus and Look-Alikes
Use this chart by checking the cap surface first, then the stem, then the wood. The gill edge comes last, because several of these species share a toothed edge.
| Species | Cap | Gills | Stem | Wood and US range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fringed sawgill Lentinus crinitus | Up to about 5 cm, funnel-shaped, stiff hairs, cream to dark brown | Crowded, run down the stem, pale yellow-brown | Short, leathery, central or off-center, small scales | Dead wood. Florida and the Gulf South |
| Tiger sawgill Lentinus tigrinus | 1 to 6 cm, navel-like center, small dark brown scales | Crowded, white to creamy, slightly serrated | 2 to 4 cm, brown scales often lost, fragile ring zone when young | Floodplain hardwoods. Great Plains east, plus the Southwest |
| Panus neostrigosus (Lentinus strigosus, Panus rudis, Panus lecomtei) | 2 to 6 cm, dense hairs 1 to 2 mm long, purple fading to tan | Close or crowded, white to creamy, sometimes purplish when young | 1 to 2 cm, hairy, often off-center or lateral | Recently dead hardwood. Widely distributed |
| Scaly sawgill Neolentinus lepideus | 2 to 15 cm, whitish, pressed-down brown scales | Close, white, serrated | 2 to 10 cm long, very tough, recurved scales | Decayed conifer wood and treated lumber. Widely distributed |
| Lilac oysterling Panus conchatus | 3 to 12 cm, bald or minutely fuzzy, purplish fading to tan | Close or nearly distant, often forked, whitish to purplish | 2 to 8 cm, often off-center or lateral | Decaying hardwood sticks and logs. Canada to Mexico |
The Lentinus crinitus row follows the Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia (ColFungi). The other rows follow MushroomExpert.com pages on Lentinus tigrinus, Panus neostrigosus, Neolentinus lepideus and Panus conchatus.
What Kind of Mushroom Is Lentinus crinitus?
Lentinus crinitus is a white-rot wood decomposer in the family Polyporaceae, even though it has gills. The family sits in the order Polyporales. A 2015 paper in IMA Fungus calls it the widely accepted lectotype species of Lentinus. You may also see the older name Panus crinitus. Like other mushrooms that act as decomposers, it feeds on dead material.
How to Identify Lentinus crinitus
Identify Lentinus crinitus by checking the cap, gills, stem, flesh and wood together. No single feature confirms it. If the terms are new, review the parts of a mushroom first.
Cap
The cap measures 1.2 to 4.2 cm across in ColFungi. A Mississippi cap reached about 2 inches (5 cm) in Jim Conrad's Naturalist Newsletter. The shape runs from flat to sunken to funnel-like. The surface is cream to dark brown, with stiff hairs and fine radial lines. The IMA Fungus key notes that the cap is often bald at the center. The margin may carry yellowish-brown hairs.
Gills
The gills are crowded and pale yellow-brown. They run down the stem. Conrad notes that they merge into the stem with no clear line. Reference entries call the edge finely toothed, but ColFungi and the IMA Fungus key do not describe it. Treat the edge as a weak clue.
Stem
The stem is 1.1 to 2.2 cm long in ColFungi. It can be central or off-center. It is cylindrical to slightly bulbous and leathery. The surface is light yellow with darker small scales.
Flesh and Spore Print
The flesh is white to pale yellow. Fresh caps are leathery and pliable. Dried caps turn tough and shriveled. The spore print is white. We found no reliable description of its odor or taste, so those clues are left out. Read why odor and texture matter in mushroom ID for the general method.
Growth Habit
This species grows on dead wood, often in groups or tight clusters. ColFungi lists freshly cut and decaying logs in open areas, tropical forest and mixed oak forest. Conrad found it on a rotting trunk beside a Mississippi stream. Compare other mushrooms that grow on trees if yours does not match.
Where Does Lentinus crinitus Grow in the US?
Lentinus crinitus occurs mainly in Florida and the Gulf South, with smaller numbers in Georgia and South Carolina. GBIF occurrence data lists 1,478 US records as of October 2026. Florida alone holds 790.
| State | All GBIF records | Preserved specimens |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 790 | 191 |
| Louisiana | 190 | 24 |
| Georgia | 162 | 3 |
| Texas | 133 | 16 |
| South Carolina | 54 | 0 |
| Alabama | 47 | 5 |
| Mississippi | 36 | 4 |
These seven states hold about 96 percent of US records. About 77 percent of US records are iNaturalist research-grade observations, which are community photo identifications. The 290 preserved specimens show the same southern pattern, and Florida specimens date back to at least 1915. Texas Mushrooms shows photographs from Sam Houston National Forest.
Four specimens are labeled from Arctic Alaska, which does not fit a tropical species. We did not verify outlying records like these, so treat them with caution.
Records exist for every month in Florida, and about 86 percent of dated records fall between March and September. These numbers also reflect when people go looking.
Outside the US, GBIF shows the largest totals in Brazil and Mexico.
Lentinus crinitus vs Similar Sawgills
The main look-alikes are other tough, gilled wood mushrooms, and a southern location does not rule them out. GBIF lists Florida records for every species in the chart: 220 for scaly sawgill, 143 for Panus neostrigosus, 74 for tiger sawgill and 11 for lilac oysterling.
Lentinus crinitus vs Lentinus tigrinus
| Feature | Lentinus crinitus | Lentinus tigrinus |
|---|---|---|
| Cap surface | Stiff hairs, often bald at center | Small dark brown scales on tan to brown |
| Habitat | Dead wood in open areas and forest | Floodplains, often willow, cottonwood or silver maple |
Lentinus crinitus vs Panus neostrigosus
This is the most similar species in the chart, because both have hairy caps that become sunken. MushroomExpert.com treats Panus rudis, Lentinus strigosus and Panus lecomtei as synonyms. The name neostrigosus was proposed in 2012.
| Feature | Lentinus crinitus | Panus neostrigosus |
|---|---|---|
| Cap color | Cream to dark brown | Purple at first, then reddish, pinkish or orangish brown, or tan |
| Hairs | Stiff, often worn at the center | Dense, 1 to 2 mm long, unchanged with age |
| Stem | Central or off-center | Often off-center or lateral, sometimes nearly absent |
| Spore print | White | Creamy to yellowish |
| Microscope | Hyphal pegs present | Hyphal pegs never present |
Lentinus crinitus vs Neolentinus lepideus
This photo shows the pattern to look for: pale caps with brown scales and stout stems. That pattern fits a scaly sawgill better than the hairy funnel cap of Lentinus crinitus.
Scaly sawgill, also called trainwrecker, can reach 15 cm across. Its odor is fragrant, somewhat like anise. It grows on decayed conifer wood, fence wood and railroad ties. It causes brown rot, while Lentinus crinitus causes white rot. A 2023 PeerJ study explains that Neolentinus was split from Lentinus on rot type. The genus now sits in the order Gloeophyllales, so the two are not close relatives.
Other Tropical Lentinus in Florida
GBIF also lists 71 Florida records for Lentinus velutinus and 53 for Lentinus berteroi. Faces of Fungi describes Lentinus velutinus from Sri Lanka with a velvety to short-bristly cap and a slender stem up to 25 cm long. We found no modern US key that separates these names from Lentinus crinitus. A confident species name may need expert review.
Is Lentinus crinitus Edible?
Lentinus crinitus is a traditional food in parts of South America, but that does not make a wild find safe to eat. The claim that nobody eats it is wrong.
- Yanomami, Brazil: A 2020 study in Food Science and Technology says the Yanomami include it in their diet. They collect it from partly burned wood in slash-and-burn plots.
- Uitoto, Colombia: ColFungi reports that the Uitoto eat young, soft specimens in broth or roasted in yarumo leaves. Mature specimens are described as "not pleasant."
- Mexico: ColFungi notes that it is reported as edible there.
None of this confirms safety. The 2020 study reports no toxicity testing. A PubMed search found no poisoning report, which is not proof of safety. Learn the basics of poisonous vs edible mushrooms and ask a local expert before eating any wild find.
Does Lentinus crinitus Have Medicinal Uses?
No human study shows that Lentinus crinitus treats any condition. A PubMed search in October 2026 found 25 papers naming the species in the title or abstract. None was a clinical trial.
- Traditional use: ColFungi reports use in Mexico "to provide strength after childbirth." It reports no medicinal use in Colombia.
- Cancer cells: A 2020 study reported that polysaccharides from a lab-grown strain slowed breast cancer cells in vitro. A cell result does not show an effect in the human body.
We found no data on drug interactions, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and no evidence-based dose exists. Do not use it in place of medical care. Our medicinal mushroom identification guide covers better-studied species.
The best-documented practical use is in the lab. A 2018 study found that its laccase enzyme removed up to 76 percent of a blue dye in 24 hours.
Common Identification Mistakes
Most wrong identifications come from trusting one feature. Check these points before you settle on a name.
Treating Toothed Gills as Proof
Tiger sawgill and scaly sawgill both have serrated edges. A toothed edge narrows the group, but it does not name the species.
Confusing Hairs With Scales
Stiff upright hairs point toward Lentinus crinitus or Panus neostrigosus. Small flat scales point toward tiger sawgill or scaly sawgill.
Ignoring the Wood
Conifer stumps, fence posts and railroad ties suggest scaly sawgill. Floodplain willow and cottonwood suggest tiger sawgill.
Skipping the Spore Print
A creamy to yellowish print suggests Panus neostrigosus. A white print fits Lentinus crinitus but also fits tiger sawgill, scaly sawgill and lilac oysterling. Our guide on how to identify a mushroom you found covers the full process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the common name for Lentinus crinitus?
The English name listed in GBIF's name data is fringed sawgill. Texas Mushrooms uses the same name. We did not find "hairy sawgill" in the reference sources we checked.
Is Lentinus crinitus edible?
Indigenous groups in Brazil and Colombia eat it, and it is reported as edible in Mexico. The Uitoto prefer young specimens because mature ones are unpleasant. A wild find still needs expert confirmation, and this page does not confirm any specimen as safe.
Is Lentinus crinitus poisonous?
We found no published poisoning report in PubMed. That does not prove safety in people, so do not eat a wild specimen on that basis.
Where is Lentinus crinitus found in the US?
Most GBIF records come from Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Florida alone holds 790 of 1,478 records. Scattered records from other states have not been verified.
What is the difference between Lentinus crinitus and Lentinus tigrinus?
Lentinus crinitus has stiff hairs on the cap. Lentinus tigrinus has small dark brown scales and a navel-like center. Lentinus tigrinus also favors floodplain hardwoods such as willow and cottonwood.
Is Lentinus strigosus the same as Panus rudis?
Yes. MushroomExpert.com treats Panus rudis, Lentinus strigosus and Panus lecomtei as synonyms of Panus neostrigosus. Databases and guides still use different names for it.
Is Lentinus crinitus a polypore?
Lentinus crinitus has gills, not pores. It still belongs to the family Polyporaceae in the order Polyporales. That is why it is sometimes grouped with gilled polypores.
Does Lentinus crinitus have medicinal benefits?
No human study shows a medical benefit. One lab study reports an effect on breast cancer cells in vitro. We found no clinical trial and no evidence-based dose.
Final Safety Reminder
A traditional food record does not confirm the mushroom in front of you. Never eat a wild mushroom based on a chart, a photo or an app. Keep children and pets away from unknown mushrooms. If you want a second opinion, take clear pictures of the cap, gills, stem and wood, using our guide on how to photograph mushrooms for identification. Then check them with our free mushroom identifier and a local expert.
Sign in to leave a comment and join the discussion.
Species GuideMushrooms growing on a living tree almost always mean the wood inside is decaying. The fungus has usually been feeding on dead heartwood or wounded sapwood...
Species GuideChanterelle mushroom identification starts under the cap: a true chanterelle has blunt ridges or a nearly smooth surface running down the stem, never sharp,...
Species GuideA king bolete, also called porcini, is a large brown-capped mushroom with a sponge of pores instead of gills, a swollen stem with a fine white net near the...