A reliable molecular phylogenetic method to identify Hericium erinaceum, the most industrially valuable species in the Hericium genus, was established. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of the PCR-amplified ITS and 5.8S rDNA from Hericium fungi, including 6 species and 23 isolates, showed that variation in nucleotide sequences and size exists in both ITS1 and ITS2 regions, but not in the 5.8S region. These two ITS regions provided different levels of information on the relationship of H. erinaceum to other Hericium species. Based on the ITS1 sequence, both the parsimony and neighbor joining trees clearly distinguished Asian H. erinaceum isolates from other Hericium species and isolates. The intraspecific divergence of the ITS2 region was suitable to dissect the Asian H. erinaceum isolates into a few groups.