RBG Kew herbarium accession number K(M)160940. 13 September 2008 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. Cap Convex, then flattened or depressed, irregular, fibrillose, coarsely scaly, pinkish brown with a white margin when young, with age becoming chestnut brown to black brown, about 5 to 14 cm across Spines Decurrent or not decurrent, brittle, light greyish brown with white tips, darkening with age from the base, to about 10 mm long Stem Equal or broader at the apex, fibrillose or partially to fully covered with spines, whitish, pinkish or reddish brown, sometimes blue green, dark green or black at the base, attached to white mycelium in the soil. About 3 to 10 cmm tall by 1 to 3 cm wide. Flesh Firm, not zoned, whitish or pale pink, blue green to grey green in the stem base. When dried material is exposed to KOH solution, the cap surface turns darker brown and the flesh turns pale brown. Smell Mealy Taste Bitter or acrid Season Late summer to autumn Distribution Rare. Known from Berkshire, Hampshire, Norfolk, Kent and Surrey. Habitat With European Beech (Fagus sylvatica), oak and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa). Favouring sandy and gravelly soils, often on banksides and other nutrient poor habitats. Spore Print Yellow brown to brown Microscopic Features Spores sub-spherical with prominent warts (4.5-6.3) x (3.8-5.3) µm2 measured excluding the warts. Basidia club shaped, four spored. Edibility Inedible Notes In a study published in 2021, numerous stipitate hydnoid fungi originally identified as Sarcodon scabrosus were DNA sequenced. Many including the 2008 collection shown here were found to belong to a new species, which was given the name Hydnellum fagiscabrosum. For details see: Nitare J, Ainsworth AM, Larsson E, Parfitt D, Suz LM, Svantesson S, Larsson K-H (2021). Four new species of Hydnellum (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) with a note on Sarcodon illudens. Fungal Systematics and Evolution7: 233–254. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2021.07.12. 
13 September 2008 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
15 September 2008 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
Growing in the same location as the 2008 collection. 5 August 2009 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
Growing in the same location as the 2008 collection. 5 August 2009 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
Hyphae on the surface of a spine viewed with a x40 microscope objective and x2.5 projection lens. 15 August 2009 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. |