Hydnellum illudens
Hydnellum illudens is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae, found in central and northern Europe. It produces pinkish-violet fruiting bodies that darken with age, featuring scaly caps up to 7 cm across and white spines underneath that turn purplish-brown. The fungus grows in association with hardwood trees.
Taxonomy
The fungus was described in 1976 by Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus, from collections made in France. It was initially classified in the genus Sarcodon. The taxon was reclassified into the genus Hydnellum following a molecular phylogenetics-led reevaluation of its status.Description
Hydnellum illudens produces stalked fruit bodies with caps up to 7 cm across. Young caps are evenly velutinate—that is, covered in a fine, velvet‑like down—but as they mature the surface breaks into flat‑lying scales whose tips stand proud. Initial cap colour is pinkish‑violet, darkening through blackish tones to deep brown with age.Beneath the cap, the hymenophore consists of slender, downward‑pointing spines up to 5 mm long. These begin white and soon darken to purplish‑brown. The flesh is uniformly white.
The stipe measures up to 5 cm in height and 1.5 cm in thickness. It is initially minutely tomentose—clothed in fine hairs—but becomes smooth over time, retaining occasional fibre‑like threads. Its colour mirrors the cap, starting brownish‑white and turning deep brown at maturity.
Under the microscope, the vegetative hyphae are simple‑septate, typically 2–6 micrometre wide but reaching up to 22 μm in the cap tissue. The basidiospores are elliptic, coarsely tuberculate, and measure 6.3–7 by 3.6–4.5 μm when mature.