Now that we are getting ‘real’ rain, perhaps we will see some interesting fungi showing up.
I have seen some ink caps, puffballs and small brown jobs these past few days. Also, I saw a photo recently of a most interesting, toothed fungus that I found many years ago growing among the trees edging the creek at Kleanza campsite near Terrace.
A common nickname for it is “strawberries and cream” because in its young stages most caps look just like the photo here with bright crimson pools of liquid that have oozed out onto the top of the furry creamy-white surface.
Famous mycologist, David Arora, described it as “Danish pastry topped with strawberry jam.”
How and why these pools are formed is not clearly understood, although it seems to happen during wet spells as if the fungus is trying to get rid of excess moisture.
This woody, toothed fungus (Hydnellum peckii) bears spores on pointed teeth located on the underside and so it is also known as “devil’s tooth fungus.” “bleeding tooth fungus”, “bleeding Hydnellum” and “red-juice tooth.”
Because the juice is such a bright red, there is a misconception that the juice, if not the whole fungus is poisonous, infectious or even dangerous, but it is not. It will not kill you, but it is considered inedible due to the disagreeable odour, the extremely unpleasant and bitter (very spicy hot) taste and the tough, fibrous flesh.
Devil’s tooth fungus typically grows on the ground among the mosses and forest litter. The fungal caps often grow over, and even fuse with, twigs and other objects on the ground.
Several caps can also fuse together to form large masses. Consequently, the fungus can be all kinds of sizes and peculiar shapes. As it gets older it loses the bright red, pinks and whitish colours and turns dull brown.
It is symbiotic with the roots of pines, western hemlock, Douglas-fir and Sitka spruce and is often an indicator of an old, species-rich forest.
Historically, it has been used by natural dyers to create beige and blue-green colours. The exuded red juices may have some medicinal properties, but they have not been found to be effective.
