About this fungus
Black Tooth is a fungus in the Bankeraceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A tough, dark tooth fungus of woodland ground. Irregular caps often fuse into compound rosettes, darkening from blue-grey or sooty grey to almost black while retaining a paler growing edge.
What to check
The underside has crowded short spines rather than gills or pores. They begin whitish to blue-grey and become grey or grey-brown. A white spore print points to Phellodon rather than the brown-spored Hydnellum species. A section should show very dark flesh with a layered or duplex texture, and dried material develops a sweet fenugreek or curry-like smell.
Variation
Fresh young margins can be pale or distinctly blue-grey, while older caps become blacker, harder and less clearly zoned. Caps commonly engulf needles, moss and twigs as they expand.
Lookalikes
Grey Tooth, Phellodon melaleucus, and Woolly Tooth, Phellodon tomentosus, are paler and need close comparison. Blue Tooth, Hydnellum caeruleum, can share blue-black tones but has brown spores and blue and orange zones in the flesh. Dark toothed fungi may require microscopy when colour and section characters are unclear.
Habitat and range
Ectomycorrhizal on poor woodland soils, often with pine and other conifers but also recorded with broad-leaved trees in parts of its range. It frequently fruits among moss, needles and other litter.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Alan Rockefeller / CC BY-SA 3.0