Fused Tooth

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Fused Tooth is a medium-sized tooth fungus occuring in Europe and North America. In the United States it occurs from Maine to Georgia, west to Minnesota, Iowa, and Alabama. It is found in summer and fall, in deciduous and mixed forests, alone or in groups but not clustered (gregarious). It grows on the ground mostly under hardwoods but also under conifers. It has a mutually beneficial relationship (mycorrhizal) with the tiny rootlets of trees, absorbing sugars and amino acids while helping the tree absorb water.

When it first appears, the cap is convex above but flat below (planoconvex) and white to cream-colored. The upper surface is covered with fine, woolly or velvety, hair-like fibers. As it ages, the cap expands, the fibers collapse, and the color darkens. The upper surface becomes pitted or concentrically wrinkled. Mature caps are 1¼″ to 5″ (2 to 13 cm) in diameter, flat, and depressed in the center. The upper surface may be smooth and shiny or vaguely concentrically zoned in color or texture. It turns tan or brown in the center but remains whitish on the growing margins. Adjacent caps usually fuse together.

The underside of the cap, the spore surface, is covered with short, spine-like teeth. The teeth are 1⁄32″ to 1⁄16″ (1 to 2 mm) long and whitish at first, soon becoming brownish. The pore surface runs down the stalk.

The stalk is solid, tough, ⅜″ to 1¾″ (1.0 to 4.5 cm) long, and 3⁄16″ to ⅜″ (5 to 10 mm) thick. It is connected centered to the cap. It is colored like the cap or darker than the cap, and it is covered with fine hairs (fibrilose) above the base, with cottony fibers at the base.

The flesh is whitish, grayish, brownish, or obscurely concentrically zoned with the same colors as the cap. It has a mild taste. Edibility is unknown.

The spore print is white.

Deciduous and mixed forests

Hardwoods and sometimes conifers

Summer and fall

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

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Location: Dakota County