| | The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
‘Tooth Fungi’.
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; ephemeral; simple; differentiated into a stipe and pileus with the hymenium underneath the latter, or attached laterally and bracket-shaped; medium sized to large; 3–10(–15) cm across. The mature pileus convex, or more or less flat or somewhat depressed. The top of the pileus cream or yellowish to buff, or straw-coloured, or reddish-brown. The stipe with neither ring nor volva. The hymenium with pegs or spinose (spinose); not thickening. The basidia ‘unmodified’. The basidiospores hyaline; smooth; inamyloid.
The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer. The hyphae monomitic. The generative hyphae inflated.
Chemical reactions. The context hyphae negative to ferric chloride.
Ecology. Saprophytic. The fruit-bodies borne on the ground (humicolous). Found in broad-leaved woodland, in mixed woodland, and in coniferous woodland.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 12 species in Britain; Hydnum.
World representation. 11 species; genera 4. “Widespread”.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Cantharellales.
Comments. Several species edible (e.g., H. repandum, which should first be boiled to remove bitterness).
Illustrations. • Hydnum repandum and Hydnum rufescens (LH). HYDNACEAE. 1, Hydnum repandum; 2, Hydnum rufescens. Sunesen & Dahlstrøm, in Lange & Hora (1965). • Hydnum repandum (Berkeley). HYDNACEAE. 2, Hydnum repandum L. FISTULINACEAE. 1, Fistulina hepatica (Lightf.) With. (Beefsteak Fungus). MERULIACEAE. 3, Mycoacia uda (Fr.) Donk. THELEPHORACEAE. 4, Thelephora anthocephala (Bull.) Fr.; 5, Thelephora mollissima Pers. EXIDIACEAE. 6, Sebacina incrustans (Pers.) Tul. & C. Tul. STEREACEAE. 7, Stereum hirsutum (Willd.) Gray. From Berkeley (1860).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2008 onwards. The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
