About this fungus
Blue Tooth is a fungus in the Bankeraceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A tough, lumpy tooth fungus whose fresh growing margin may be pale blue, blue-grey or steel blue around a tan to rusty-brown centre. Nearby caps often fuse into irregular compound fruit bodies.
What to check
The underside carries crowded spines, not gills or pores. They start whitish to pale grey and become brown. A lengthwise section is especially useful: blue or blue-grey zones in the cap contrast with orange to orange-brown tissue toward the stem base. A flour-like smell can support the other characters.
Variation
Blue is strongest in young fresh margins and can fade until an old specimen looks mostly tan or rusty-brown. The orange stem colour may also be limited to the lower or buried portion, so both the outside and a section should be considered.
Lookalikes
Orange Tooth, Hydnellum aurantiacum, has a white to orange margin and orange lower flesh without a true blue young stage. Devil's Tooth, Hydnellum peckii, often produces red droplets on a pale young cap. Dark Phellodon species have white spores rather than brown. Regional Hydnellum concepts remain difficult and atypical material may need microscopy or DNA evidence.
Habitat and range
Ectomycorrhizal with conifers across much of its range, including pine and spruce, but reported with live oak and other hardwoods in some warmer North American regions. It grows from woodland soil, often among moss and litter.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Walt Sturgeon (Mycowalt) / CC BY-SA 3.0Species to compare
Similar mushrooms to compare against: