Teeth

Toothed Mushrooms - mushrooms found on the ground (or cones!) with teeth or spines under the cap. If found on wood, they are simply a bundle of spines or individual, brittle (not gelatinous like jellies) spines (not a flat crust with bumps in it).

Exceptions: These are not cap-and-stem mushrooms, nor are they bundles of spines or individual teeth, but small teeth (<3mm) growing out of a flat surface growing on wood, or tall cup-shaped mushrooms sometimes resembling teeth. They are found in the crusts or cups category. Some polypores have ragged tooth-like pores, be sure to check there too if your mushroom grows on wood.

"Crust" shaped fungus, removed from wood. Does not belong here. Compare with Mucronella and Hericium on this page.

Steccherinum ochraceum - spines and cap white to orange brown when fresh, flat on wood or partly curved away, cap sticking out ~1cm. See crusts.

Henningsomyces candidus - flaring white straws, less than 1/2mm wide! Related to gilled mushrooms (Agaricales - Marasmioid).

Hydnum - soft and edible, white to pale orange mushrooms with a cap and stem. White spores. Less sordid (dingy or dirty looking) than Sarcodon and Bankera (which can also be orange or white). Related to the chanterelle, and also mycorrhizal, growing on the ground. White spores like Bankera. Formerly called Dentinum.

H. umbilicatum group (H. 'umbilicatum'/H. oregonense/H. melitosarx) - small with non-decurrent teeth. Always orangish, never white. Often <5cm.

H. olympicum ('repandum') - white to orange, decurrent teeth like a chanterelle with teeth under the cap. Up to 15cm or more.

H. washingtonianum (neorepandum) - very similar with smaller spores.

H. 'jussii'/H. melleopallidum - a third genetic group can be intermediate in size and hard to distinguish from the others, so far only known from the deep interior or far north, the latter once in WA. Decurrent teeth.

Sistotrema confluens - a related somewhat stemmed mushroom, with irregular teeth under the white to pale orange "cap" (or pores or just wrinkles, making it difficult to key out). <2cm. Other species are crusts.

Sarcodon - These next four groups are also mycorrhizal and in the Thelephorales order, growing on the ground and they all have nodulose spores like Thelephora. Forgive me for editorializing, but these mushrooms are more sordid looking than the "clean" look of Hydnum, which can look very similar. The spores are warty and brown, unlike Bankera which are warty and white. Very confusingly, these were once called Hydnum (when Hydnum was called Dentinum). Usually from 5-15cm across, or sometimes larger, depending on the species. Most smell farinaceous or spicy. Sarcodon and Hydnellum are so closely related that most species are actually in Hydnellum, even though they have appreciable stems instead of being top-shaped. Only Sarcodon imbricatus, squamosus and leucopus have been proven to belong strictly to the genus Sarcodon. Sarcodon atroviridis needs a new genus name.

S. imbricatus - scaly brown cap, whitish young teeth and stem. Slightly bitter? Spruce.

S. squamosus - similar, darker, flatter cap, with pine.

S. scabrosus - scaly brown cap, dark brown or greenish stem base, darker teeth. More bitter.

S. glaucopus - almost smooth cap with greenish stem base.

S. fuscoindicus - purple-black!

S. rimosus - purple grey, cap cracks but is not scaly.

S. calvatus - our largest species, brownish cap breaking into small scales. Up to 25-30cm. May be fragrant.

S. leucopus (laevigatus) - smooth, cracking cap, grey-brown, stem and flesh stain lavender, curry odor like Bankera when dried.

S. subincarnatus - grey-brown with vinaceous tones, flesh stains pink when cut.

S. versipellis (crassus) - smooth cap, orange-brown, cap flesh may stain yellow-green when cut.

S. indurescens - another orangish Sarcodon that stains vinaceous-pink, but only in the stem base.

S. stereosarcinon - similar orange to brown, slightly zoned cap, cracking, flesh not staining, drying hard & woody.

Bankera - Very much like Sarcodon but with small, white, spinier spores (spores are smaller with sharper spines than Sarcodon) and a little more sordid than the similar Hydnum. When dried out they will smell strongly like Maggi spice, a kind of maple curry odor. When fresh, the colours of these species are a little different than the brown spored Sarcodon, but you may need to take a spore print to differentiate them. Usually between 5-10cm across. Bankera and Phellodon are so closely related that some just call all of the Bankera by the name Phellodon as well.

B. violascens - pale pinkish purple tones

B. fuligineoalba - starts out pale, turning orange-brown

Hydnellum - tougher with firmer flesh than Sarcodon/Bankera. More likely to have twigs enclosed by the flesh. Also, less of a cap and stem shape - shorter and squatter with a stem that widens upwards like a top shape. The spores are brown and nodulose like Sarcodon. They usually grow from 5-15cm across, depending on the species. Most smell farinaceous. Sarcodon and Hydnellum are so closely related the genera may need to be combined or rearranged somewhat.

H. aurantiacum - orange colour, zoned flesh

H. conigenum (auratile?) - thinner like Phellodon, brighter orange flesh and teeth.

H. complicatum - clustered orange rosettes, not farinaceous

H. complectipes - caps more fused together, farinaceous.

H. 'scrobiculatum' - red-brown, rough pitted cap, dark red-brown flesh, sometimes bleeding red, but not dramatically like H. peckii.

H. concrescens (zonatum) - thinner fleshed, smoother cap.

H. subsuccosum - usually redder than H. concrescens, also thinnish and smoothish.

H. mirabile - hairy yellow-brown cap, pale brown flesh, sometimes bleeding yellow-brown.

H. subzonatum - thin fleshed group member under coastal pine.

H. peckii - "strawberries and cream" - red drops when young, insanely hot peppery taste. Like H. scrobiculatum when old.

H. ferrugineum - mild taste, but local material may just be H. scrobiculatum.

H. caeruleum - blue top, rusty coloured stem flesh.

H. suaveolens - blue bottom and stem flesh, smells wonderfully of black licorice.

H. cyanopodium - blue bottom, flesh and young cap. No licorice odor (unpleasant instead), may also bleed red juice.

H. regium - dark violet grey on top.

H. 'geogenium' - yellow! Our local species doesn't have a very regular, flat top.

Phellodon - smaller, <5cm across, with the short squat stature of Hydnellum, but "cap" flesh that is conspicuously thinner (but see the orange Hydnellum conigenum). With white nodulose spores and a strong odor of Maggi curry spice when dried just like Bankera. In fact, Phellodon and Bankera are so closely related the genera may need to be combined or rearranged somewhat.

P. atratus - bluish black, spines dark too.

P. melaleucus - blackish-brown, spines paler, even thinner flesh.

P. niger - similar with a tomentose stipe base with duplex flesh (hard centre).

P. tomentosus - brownish, white rim, zoned cap.

Auriscalpium vulgare - "ear pick" - a distinctive tiny (<2.5cm) mushroom growing on douglas fir cones with an eccentric stem. Like Russula, it has amyloid spiny spores.

Echinodontium tinctorium - a perennial wooden conk on true fir and hemlock, bright rusty interior, spines under cap wear away irregularly. Easily mistaken for a polypore. Like Russula, it has amyloid, spiny spores. Popular for dyeing clothing.

Hericium - a mass of spines hanging down from dead wood, distinguished by their shape and habitat, also in the Russulales, with minutely spiny amyloid spores.

H. abietis - found on conifers. Spines mostly occur near the branch tips.

H. americanum - (used to be called H. coralloides) - similar but less branched, but usually found on hardwood.

H. coralloides (ramosum) - smaller spines (<8mm) distributed along the entire branch, sometimes in small tufts, with a more open and coralloid look. Usually on Hardwood.

H. erinaceus - a big round ball with long parallel spines. Hardwoods.

Mucronella - individual teeth hanging down from wood resembling crusts and sometimes growing upwards when young like club fungi. Each tooth is usually <1cm long. They are somewhat related to gilled mushrooms in the Agaricales, along with the Clavaria club fungi.