About this fungus
Mealy Tooth is a fungus in the Bankeraceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A thick, corky tooth fungus that begins whitish to pale pink and becomes rusty or reddish-brown from the centre. Young damp caps can produce red to amber droplets and often grow together into irregular cushions.
What to check
Look beneath for crowded short spines rather than gills or pores. They begin whitish, then become pinkish and finally rusty-brown. The cap is felted rather than clearly concentrically zoned, the flesh is reddish-brown, and the fruit body grows from soil with living trees. A faint flour-like smell can support the identification.
Variation
Young caps have the palest felted surface and may show conspicuous guttation. Older fruit bodies become rougher, darker and more depressed, engulfing needles and debris. Dry specimens may lack droplets completely.
Lookalikes
Devil's Tooth, Hydnellum peckii, can also be pale and bleed red droplets. Velvet Tooth, Hydnellum spongiosipes, and Zoned Tooth, Hydnellum concrescens, have caused historical recording confusion. Tree association, cap structure and microscopy are often needed because colour and guttation overlap.
Habitat and range
Ectomycorrhizal mainly with pine and sometimes other conifers, on nutrient-poor sandy woodland soils. Habitat associations vary regionally, and older records in some countries include misidentified related species.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Alan Rockefeller / CC BY-SA 3.0Species to compare
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