About this fungus
Bitter Tooth is a fungus in the Bankeraceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A robust European tooth fungus with a brown to reddish or purplish brown cap that develops darker scales. The irregular cap often becomes shallowly depressed, while the underside carries crowded hanging spines instead of gills or pores.
What to check
Confirm pale buff to brown spines running down the stem, a brown spore print and no ring or volva. The most useful field character is the lower stem and its flesh, which become blue-grey, greenish, blue-black or nearly black beneath a paler upper stem. The cap scales, coloured base and microscopic absence of clamp connections must be considered together because related tooth fungi can share individual features.
Lookalikes
Hydnellum squamosum, formerly Sarcodon squamosus, usually has a pale stem base and is strongly associated with pine. Hydnellum fennicum and other members of the former Sarcodon scabrosus group can also be close. Many North American collections historically called S. scabrosus belong to an unresolved set of similar fungi with different hosts, so a North American photograph or field record should not automatically receive the strict European name.
Habitat and range
An ectomycorrhizal fungus growing on woodland soil in Europe. Published European accounts include beech, sweet chestnut, oak and pine, while the narrower northern concept has often been linked particularly with pine. This host disagreement and the history of misapplied North American names make local ecological context useful but not decisive by itself.
Food safety
Inedible.