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Species Information
Summary: Features of this commonly reported fungus include a brown cap with a depressed center and with large, coarse, truncate, darker scales, brown teeth that are not decurrent, a white to brown stem that is longer than the cap width and widens at the base, a somewhat disagreeable, sour odor, a mild to bitter taste, growth under conifers especially spruce, and microscopic characters including clamp connections. |Johannesson(1) separated the variant under pine (as opposed to spruce) by molecular and macroscopic (but not microscopic characters) as Sarcodon squamosus (Schaeff.) Quel. Johannesson(1) states, "The pine form has a yellow brown to vinaceous brown pileus with blackish brown scales, the margin of the pileus remains for a long time incurved, and the centre is not or only slightly depressed. When old or dried the pileus of the pine form is distinctly darker than the pileus of the spruce form. The scales are usually smaller than in the spruce form, especially near the margin of the pileus. The broad scales in the centre are not or only slightly pointed upwards. The spines are slightly decurrent, rather short and crowded, greyish and when fresh often with a tint of greyish blue. The stipe is short, usually of about the same length as the diameter of the pileus or shorter, attenuated at the base, and normally distinctly paler at the apex. The context is whitish but sometimes blackish brown in the stipe base. The smell is aromatic, spicy."..."The spruce form has a brown pileus with brown scales, the margin of the pileus does not remain incurved for a long time, and the centre is always depressed, often even infundibuliform or hollow. The pileus of the spruce form is distinctly paler and the broad scales in the centre are usually pointed almost straight upwards. The spines are not decurrent, quite long and brown. The stipe is long, normally longer than the diameter of the pileus, cylindrical or often slightly bulbous at the base, and not paler at the apex. The context is dirty whitish-brownish, not darker in the base of the stipe. The smell is somewhat disagreeable, sour". (Johannesson(1), with Latin names in italics). |These distinctions should be kept in mind when interpreting the descriptions below which generally cover Sarcodon squamosus as well as Sarcodon imbricatus. |Var. monticola K.A. Harrison var. prov. has cap color "vinaceous-russet" to "vinaceous-tawny" (as opposed to "light ochraceous buff" to "warm buff" for var. imbricatus, using Ridgway(1) colors) (Hall).
Some collections as Sarcodon imbricatus are Sarcodon squamosus which was regarded as a synonym, but spruce is frequently mentioned in the habitat of herbarium collections from the Pacific Northwest, implying the presence of the spruce variant, and most of the accompanying photographs are from the Pacific Northwest. Sarcodon imbricatus is reported from BC (collections at Pacific Forestry Centre include one determined by K.A. Harrison, and collections at the University of British Columbia), WA (Hall, both varieties), WA, OR, CA, (Castellano), ID (Andrew Parker, pers. comm.), AK (collections at the University of Washington).
Cap: 5-20cm, convex to flat or centrally depressed; buff to pale brown or dull reddish brown, darker brown when old; cap surface dry, "covered with large, coarse, broad, raised or shingle-like, darker brown to nearly black scales" that are often upturned when old and sometimes wear off except in center, cap surface sometime cracking when old, and sometimes perforating through into stem interior, (Arora), up to 12cm across (fruitbody up to 12cm tall), convex when young, becoming depressed and finally the depression extending into stem, margin wavy, uneven; ''brownish gray'' to ''chocolate brown'' or ''negro'', no bruising reaction recorded, scales ''chocolate brown'' to ''negro'', the flesh between the scales in all cases "light ochraceous buff" to "warm buff" ("vinaceous-russet" to "vinaceous-tawny" in var. monticola), margin ''yellowish brown''; imbricate-scaly [with shingled scales], scales up to 1.5cm x 1.2cm, irregularly truncate and upturned, (Hall), 10-20(30)cm, convex when young, to funnel-shaped when old with perforate center, irregularly round in outline from above, large erect scales more or less concentric and dark brown to black-brown with reddish gleam on lighter tomentose ground, margin lighter to whitish, the scales fleshy and thick in center, thinner and less erect toward margin, (Breitenbach), from the first conspicuously scaly and remaining so until maturity, when old or weathered becoming almost smooth except in central hollow, (Coker), dark reddish to purplish brown against paler pink flesh, (Phillips)
Flesh: "thick, firm but brittle; pallid to grayish, tan, or brownish", (Arora), up to 3cm thick, homogeneous, fleshy-fibrous; pallid, drying with a yellowish cast, (Hall), white, even in base of stem, (Breitenbach)
Teeth: 0.2-1.5cm long, "soft, brittle, often slightly decurrent"; "pale brown or grayish or pallid" becoming dark brown when old, (Arora), up to 0.7cm long, 1-2 per square mm, irregularly decurrent, fleshy, round in cross-section, subulate [awl-shaped], extending all the way to the margin; "ochraceous-buff" to "ochraceous tawny", no bruising reaction noted, (Hall), white when young, then gray-brown to purple-brown, (Breitenbach)
Stem: 4-10cm x 1.5-3.5(5)cm, central or off-center, often enlarged in lower part, often hollow toward top when old; some shade of brown; "usually more or less smooth", (Arora), up to 6cm x 3cm, central to slightly off-center, not tapered, base bulbous; "cinnamon-buff" to "pinkish buff", bruising "warm sepia" or "snuff brown", base the same color, (Hall), whitish when young, then brownish, base lighter to whitish; velvety, (Breitenbach), white to purplish brown (Phillips)
Chemical Reactions: flesh not blackening in KOH (Harrison(8))
Odor: "mild or when dry somewhat smoky or chocolate-like" (Arora), faint (Hall), weakly and pleasantly spicy (Breitenbach), slightly iodized, sometimes horse-like, (Lincoff(1))
Taste: mild to bitter (Arora), mild (Hall), astringent or slightly bitter (Lincoff(1)), slightly bitter (Harrison(8))
Microscopic: spores 6-8 x 5-7 microns, "nearly round but prominently warted (angular-nodulose or shaped like a Maltese cross)", (Arora), spores 6.3-7.5 x 5.3-6.3 microns, nearly round to elliptic, "angular-nodulose, appearing as a Maltese cross in outline, coronate", inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, 40-45 x 4-7 microns, clavate; cystidia absent; hyphae 4-14 microns wide, thin-walled, with clamp connections, (Hall), spores 6.5-8 x 5-6 microns (including tubercles), tubercles coarse, flat to concave; all septa with clamp connections, (Breitenbach), hyphae of cap flesh septate, occasionally branched and with clamp connections, (Coker)
Spore Deposit: brown (Arora, Hall), fawn color in light deposits, buffy brown in heavy ones, (Coker)
Habitat / Range
single to gregarious on ground under conifers or hardwoods, late spring, summer, or fall, (Arora), single on ground in duff and moss, under pine, (Hall), single to clustered, often in fairy rings, (McKnight)
Similar Species
Sarcodon squamosus 1) has a vinaceous to brown cap, often dark vinaceous brown to purplish black, 2) has slightly smaller scales, 3) is less likely to be deeply sunken at the disk, 4) favors pine habitat, and 5) dyes wool bluish green as opposed to grayish beige for S. imbricatus, (Siegel(2)). |Sarcodon leucopus is similar in size, color, and spore size and ornamentation, but the scales on the cap never become reflexed at the tips and a deep depression does not develop on the cap over the stem as is typical in Sarcodon imbricatus, (Franklin). S. leucopus has a smooth convex cap without free scales (may be minutely areolate [cracked like dried mud] or with small flat scales), spines are more delicate and crowded and somewhat paler, and the stem is not enlarged at the base, (Coker discussing Sarcodon laevigatus). |Hydnellum scabrosum 1) has a finely scaly or cracked, pinkish brown cap when young, becoming scalier and brown when old, 2) has a bluish stem base, 3) has a strongly bitter taste, and 4) favors pine habitat, (Siegel(2)).
