Hydnellum caeruleum (Hornem. ex Pers.) P. Karst.
bluish tooth
Bankeraceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
bluish tooth
Bankeraceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include a top-shaped fruitbody with the cap mauve, pale blue, whitish, or tan when young, becoming dark brown from the center outward, with similar colors in the cap flesh but rusty-colored in the stem flesh, whitish to bluish young teeth that become brown with pale tips, and a tough rooting stem covered with debris. It may have a strong farinaceous odor and taste. Hydnellum caeruleum is common in the Pacific Northwest (Arora).
Chemical Reactions:
blue parts turn blue-green and reddish parts turn dark dull olive with KOH (McKnight)
Odor:
strong farinaceous (Arora, Hall), not distinctive (McKnight, Harrison(3)), slightly farinaceous (Breitenbach), none or slightly of cooked meat (Bessette), heavy and unpleasant, anise-like, (Miller)
Taste:
strong farinaceous (Arora, Hall), not distinctive (McKnight, Harrison(3)), mild (Breitenbach), mild or slightly acid (Bessette), mild but slightly unpleasant (Miller)
Microscopic:
spores 4.5-7 x 3.5-5 microns, nearly round to elliptic and irregularly lobed or warted, (Arora), spores 4.5-6(7) x 4.5-5 microns, nearly round, coarsely tuberculate; basidia 4-spored, 6-7 microns wide; blackish granules on the hyphae of the teeth give apparent amyloid effect, some sections of context have blackish granules in water and in Melzer''s reagent, (Harrison(3)), spores 4.7-6.0 x 3.5-4.7 microns, round to elliptic, minutely tuberculate, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, 35-45 x 5.3-7.3 microns, clavate; hyphae "to 5 microns in diam, colorless, thin-walled, with infrequent clamps in the spongy pileus context, septate, branched, interwoven in the upper context, parallel in the fibrous lower context", (Hall), spores 4.5-6 x 3.5-5.5 microns (Bessette)
Spore Deposit:
fawn brown (Hall), brown (Arora), vinaceous brown (Harrison(3)), light brown (Bessette)
Notes:
Distribution includes WA (Hall), BC (collections at Pacific Forestry Centre including one determined by K.A. Harrison), and OR (collections at Oregon State University). The University of Washington also has a collection from AK. It is relatively common in the northern conifer areas of North America (including MI) and Europe, (Harrison) and is also found in temperate Asia (Trudell).
EDIBILITY
no (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Hydnellum suaveolens has a dirty white to brownish cap, a stem with dark violet tints, and violet-blue mycelium, (Lincoff). H. suaveolens has a sickly sweet odor and blue zones in the stem interior (McKnight). Hydnellum cyanopodium has a bluish vinaceous cap (with whitish margin) that exudes red droplets; bluish black stem, cap flesh and stem flesh; and spores shaped like jacks, (Harrison(1)). Hydnellum cruentum and Hydnellum scleropodium [neither known to occur in the Pacific Northwest] and H. cyanopodium all have blue in parts, but lack the orange to rusty brown stem interior and have droplets of blood red juice, strong medicinal odor, and irregular angular spores that resemble jacks, (McKnight).Habitat
single to gregarious or in fused clusters on ground under conifers or hardwoods, (Arora), gregarious to concrescent under conifers, (Harrison(3)), single or gregarious on ground in duff and moss under Abies (fir), Tsuga (hemlock) and Pseudotsuga (Douglas-fir), (Hall), gregarious or rarely single under pines, spruce, or other conifers, (Bessette), late summer and fall (Miller)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Hydnellum cyaneotinctum (Peck) Banker
Merulius incrassatus Berk. & M.A. Curtis
Serpula incrassata (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Donk