Hydnellum peckii

Hydnellum peckii
Bleeding tooth fungus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Thelephorales
Family: Bankeraceae
Genus: Hydnellum
Species:
H. peckii
Binomial name
Hydnellum peckii
Banker (1912)
Synonyms
  • Hydnum peckii (Banker) Sacc. (1925)
  • Calodon peckii (Banker) Snell & E.A.Dick (1956)
Hydnellum peckii
Mycological characteristics
Teeth on hymenium
Cap is depressed or convex
Hymenium attachment is not applicable
Lacks a stipe
Spore print is brown
Ecology is mycorrhizal
Edibility is inedible

Hydnellum peckii is a fungus in the genus Hydnellum of the family Bankeraceae. The unusual appearance of the young fruit bodies has earned the species several descriptive common names, including strawberries and cream, the bleeding Hydnellum, the bleeding tooth fungus, the red-juice tooth, and the Devil's tooth.

The fruit bodies typically have a funnel-shaped cap with a white edge, although the shape can vary greatly. Young, moist fruit bodies can "bleed" bright red guttation droplets. Although the fruit bodies are readily identifiable when young, they become brown and nondescript with age. It is a hydnoid species, producing spores on the surface of vertical spines or tooth-like projections that hang from the undersurface of the fruit bodies.

The species is found in North America, Europe, and was recently discovered in Iran (2008) and Korea (2010). It is mycorrhizal, forming mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of coniferous trees, growing on the ground singly, scattered, or in fused masses. They are considered inedible, but the guttation droplets contain atromentin, a pigment with anticoagulant properties similar to heparin.