Hericium Americanum closely resembles other members of its genus. It is the only one with both a branching structure and spines longer than about a centimeter.
Just to make things confusing,
Hericium americanum was formerly known as
Hericium corralloides, which today refers to
one of the other species (the one formerly known as
H. ramosum).
Along the Starr King trail, July 3rd, 2009 (a very wet year, and therefore a good year for early fungi)