Summary:
Hydnellum geogenium is characterized by the sulfur-yellow color of the fruitbody. Other features include top-shaped to rosette-like, wrinkled-bumpy, velvety, weakly zoned caps sometimes joined together; corky-tough flesh; thick stem-like base with yellow mycelium; mild to aromatic odor; and mildly farinaceous taste. It is rare in Pacific Northwest but distinctive. The holotype is from Europe and collections by Peck from New York were judged identical (Banker(3)). Collections in the Pacific Northwest are more spiky tubular and less fan-shaped than those in eastern North America, (Danny Miller, pers. comm.).

Odor:
aromatic and pleasant (Breitenbach), not distinctive (Phillips)

Taste:
mild, farinaceous, (Breitenbach), not distinctive (Phillips)

Microscopic:
spores 4-5 x 3-3.5 microns (including tubercles), nearly round, irregularly tuberculate; basidia 2-4-spored, 14-25 x 3.5-5 microns, cylindric-clavate, without basal clamp connection; cystidia not seen; hyphal system monomitic, hyphae in spines 2-3.5 microns wide, thin-walled, septa without clamp connections, hyphae in cap 2.5-6 microns wide, thin-walled, occasional septa with large clamp connections, (Breitenbach), spores 3-4.5 x 3-4 microns, angular to nearly round, tuberculate, (Phillips)

Spore Deposit:
brown (Phillips)

Notes:
There are six collections from Coos County OR and one from King County WA at the University of Washington. There are collections from CO at Oregon State University. It has been reported from Priest Lake ID (Lynda Foreman, pers. comm.). Hydnellum geogenium is also found in eastern North America (on the Atlantic seaboard from QC to NC) (Phillips). Records are noted from NS, QC, GA, NY: it is locally common northeastern North America (Barron). It also occurs in Europe (Breitenbach). It is listed for BC in Kroeger(7) - details are not available but this is an unmistakeable species.

EDIBILITY

inedible (Bessette)