Major Groups > Toothed Mushrooms

MushroomExpert.Com

Toothed Mushrooms  

[ Basidiomycetes . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Mushrooms with spines or "teeth" do not form a natural taxonomic group, but putting them together simplifies identification; while the toothed mushrooms range widely in their appearance, the presence of the spines helps separate them from the thousands of other mushrooms that lack spines.

Some of these mushrooms, like Auriscalpium vulgare or Hydnum repandum, are easy to identify--but others can make for a frustrating experience. I find many species of Hydnellum to be very difficult to separate (figuratively and literally, since their flesh is so tough). The key below will lead you to a species in a few instances, but is primarily designed to sort out the various genera of toothed mushrooms.

 		 

Auriscalpium vulgare


Key to Genera (and a Few Species) of Toothed Mushrooms


1.Growing on the cones of conifers or on conifer duff composed of cone fragments.

1.Growing elsewhere.
2


2.Growing on wood.
3

2.Growing on the ground.
11


3.Mushroom small (1-6 cm across), gelatinous and translucent; cap whitish to grayish or brownish in age, spatula-shaped or tongue-shaped; growing on the wood or woody debris of conifers.

3.Not completely as above.
4


4.Mushroom without a distinct cap, consisting of either a clump of hanging spines, or a branched structure with spines hanging from the branches.

4.Cap present.
5


5.Flesh not white.
6

5.Flesh white.
7


6.Flesh brick red; growing on fir or hemlock in western North America.
Echinodontium tinctorium
at Common Tree Diseases of BC

6.Flesh brown; growing on Atlantic White Cedar on the Atlantic Coast.
Echinodontium ballouii


7.Underside of cap not completely and regularly toothed; pores present along the margin or overall when the mushroom is young; spines not more or less equal in length, or spines concentrated near the point of attachment to the wood.

7.Not as above.
8


8.Growing in overlapping shelves (rarely alone); edges of caps not blackening in age; usually found on stumps, dead trunks, large logs, or growing from the wounds of living trees; mature caps often large (over 10 cm across).
9

8.Growing alone or in small clusters but not shelf-like; edges of caps blackening in age; usually found on dead branches, sticks, and small logs; mature caps under 8 cm across.
10


9.Cap surface often with tooth-like scales (see the illustration on the linked page); presence in North America debatable but if present, rare.
Creolophus cirrhatus
at Fungi of Poland

9.Cap surface hairy or roughened but lacking tooth-like scales; common and widely distributed in northern and northeastern North America (possibly elsewhere).


10.Mature cap up to 8 cm across; spores cylindrical.

10.Mature cap 2 cm across or less; spores elliptical.
Mycorrhaphium adustulum


11.Spore print white.
12

11.Spore print brown.
13


12.Flesh tough (corky or leathery).

12.Flesh soft.
Hydnum & Bankera


13.Flesh tough (corky or leathery); mushroom sometimes engulfing debris as it grows.

13.Flesh soft; stem not usually short and squat; mushroom not engulfing debris.



References


Baird, R. E. (1986a). Type studies of North American and other related taxa of stipitate hydnums: Genera Bankera, Hydnellum, Phellodon, Sarcodon. Berlin: J. Cramer. 89 pp.

Baird, R. E. (1986b). Study of the stipitate hydnums from the southern Appalachian Mountains--Genera: Bankera, Hydnellum, Phellodon, Sarcodon. Berlin: J. Cramer. 156 pp.

Baird, R. E. & S. R. Khan (1986). The stipitate hydnums (Thelephoraceae) of Florida. Brittonia 38: 171-184.

Coker, W. C. (1919). The hydnums of North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 34: 163-197.

Coker, W. C. & A. H. Beers (1951). The stipitate hydnums of the eastern United States. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 211 pp.

Conde, L. F. & Wolf, F. A. (1972). A large sporophore of Hericium erinaceus. Mycologia 64: 1187-1189.

Ginns, J. (1985). Hericium in North America: Cultural characteristics and mating behavior. Canadian Journal of Botany 63: 1551-1563.

Hall, D. & D. E. Stuntz (1971). Pileate Hydnaceae of the Puget Sound area. I. White-spored genera: Auriscalpium, Hericium, Dentinum and Phellodon. Mycologia 63: 1099-1128.

Hall, D. & D. E. Stuntz (1972). Pileate Hydnaceae of the Puget Sound Area III. Brown-Spored Genus: Hydnellum. Mycologia 64: 560-590.

Harrison, K. A. (1973). The genus Hericium in North America. The Michigan Botanist 12:177-194.

Harrison, K. A. & D. W. Grund (1984a). A new stipitate Hydnum of Nova Scotia. Mycotaxon 20: 95-99.

Harrison, K. A. (1984b). Creolophus in North America. Mycologia 76: 1121-1123.

Harrison, K. A. & D. W. Grund (1987a). Preliminary keys to the terrestrial stipitate hydnums of North America. Mycotaxon 28: 419-426.

Harrison, K. A. & D. W. Grund (1987b). Differences in European and North American stipitate hydnums. Mycotaxon 28: 427-435.

Johannesson, H., S. Ryman, H. Lundmark & E. Danell (1999). Sarcodon imbricatus and S. squamosus--two confused species. Mycological Research 103: 1447-1452.

Maas Geesteranus, R. A. (1967). Notes on hydnums--VII. Persoonia 5: 1-13.

Maas Geesteranus, R. A. & J. A. Nannfeldt (1969). The genus Sarcodon in Sweden in the light of recent investigations. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 63: 401-440.

Parfitt, D., J. Hynes, H. J. Rogers & L. Boddy (2005). New PCR assay detects rare tooth fungi in wood where traditional approaches fail. Mycological Research 109: 1187-1194.

Ryvarden, L. (2001). The genus Auriscalpium. Harvard Papers in Botany 6: 193-198.

Wald, P., S. Pitkanen & L. Boddy (2004). Interspecific interactions between the rare tooth fungi Creolophus cirrhatus, Hericium erinaceus and H. coralloides and other wood decay species in agar and wood. Mycological Research 108: 1447-1457.




Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2004, November). Toothed mushrooms. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/toothed.html

© MushroomExpert.Com