Coral Tooth

Description

The coral tooth is a white or cream, heavily branched mushroom resembling coral. The fruiting body reaches a dozen or even several dozen centimetres, and from its branches hang tufts of soft, thin spines 1–2 cm long. Young it is pure white, with age it becomes cream and then yellowish-brown and brittle.

It grows on dead, fallen or broken trunks of deciduous trees, most often beeches, in moist forests, usually in summer and autumn. In Poland it is rare and threatened with extinction, which is why it is under partial protection.

It is distinguished from the fir coral tooth (grows on fir, spines in tufts at the ends of the branches) and from lion's mane (spines on an unbranched fruiting body). If you are not sure of the species, do not pick or eat it. In Poland the collecting of this species is restricted by regulations.

Identification features

Cap

No typical cap. Fruiting body irregularly oval, branched, diameter 4–40 cm (descriptions give different ranges). A short stem branches into twigs, up to 3 cm thick in older specimens. Pure white in young fruiting bodies, creamy in older ones, cream, later yellowish-brown; old branches and spines brittle.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Spines (needles) 1–2 cm long, soft and thin, in tufts at the ends of the branches (hanging); the hymenophore is on the spines. Colour white to cream.

Stem

Short, branching quickly; branches ending in tufts of spines. No ring or volva.

Flesh

White, brittle, does not change colour when cut. Smell and taste faint.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores amyloid, roundish-elliptical, hyaline, with a finely warty surface, size 3–5 × 3–4 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph on dead wood of deciduous trees. Mainly on beech, less often on silver birch and aspen. Grows on dead, fallen or broken trunks; prefers moist habitats.

Distribution. Localities on all continents except Antarctica. In Poland throughout the country, mainly in the south and north, within the range of beech forests; up to 2020 about 300 localities. Red List 2006: V (vulnerable). In 1983–2014 under strict protection, since 2014 under partial protection (Dz.U. 2014 item 1408). On the lists of threatened species in, among others, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, England, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.

Fruiting. In North America from July to October (eastern part) and from November to March (western part). For Poland no data.

What can it be confused with?

• Hericium alpestre (fir coral tooth) — Grows only on fir; no needles along the branches, spines clustered in tufts at the ends, hanging, longer than in the coral tooth and with sharp tips.
• Hericium erinaceus (lion's mane) — The fruiting body is also covered with hanging spines, but unbranched.
• Hericium abietis — Mentioned as similar; detailed differences - no data.
• Hericium flagellum (fir coral tooth) — Caution: similar protected species (partial protection in Poland), not included in the Atlas. Branched white fruit body with spines hanging from the branch tips, very similar to the coral tooth fungus; grows on dead fir trunks and stumps. Do not pick.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The species was known and illustrated by early naturalists; Jacob Schäffer illustrated it in 1763, and the first important diagnosis was given by Scopoli in 1772.
• In Poland in 1983–2014 under strict protection, since 2014 partial; up to 2020 about 300 localities were known.
• In 1959 Rudolph Maas Geesteranus assigned the name H. coralloides to the species from fir, and named the species from beech forests H. clathroides; later works (Hallenberg, 1983) cast doubt on this distinction.
• It is on the lists of threatened species in at least a dozen or so European countries.