The whitish Hydnum is uniformly colored in all parts. It grows in groups or in clusters. In the latter case the caps are sometimes irregular because of the crowded mode of growth and the stems are occasionally eccentric. It is a small species not liable to be mistaken for any other except possibly for very small pale forms of the spreading Hydnum. But wholly white examples of this species have never been seen by me.
The caps are 1–2 in. broad and the stems are generally about 1 in. long and 3–5 lines thick.
The plants grow in thin woods or in open bushy places and appear in June and July. It is not a common species, and though well flavored it is not of very great importance as an edible mushroom, because of its scarcity and small size. Peck, 51st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Port Jefferson. July. This fungus has been tested and found to be edible. Peck, 50th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Mt. Gretna, Pa., 1897. Specimens identified by Professor Peck. McIlvaine.
The caps are edible and superior to H. repandum.
H. fen´nicum Karst. Cap fleshy, fragile, unequal, at first scaly, at length breaking up, reddish-brick color becoming darker, margin undulately lobed, 2–4 in. broad. Flesh white. Stem sufficiently stout, unequal below, attenuated, flexuous or curved, smooth, of the same color as the cap, base acute, light white tomentum outside, inside light pale-blue or dark-gray (wood-ash), 1–3 in. long, .4–1 in. thick. Teeth decurrent, equal, pointed, from white dusky, about 4 mm. long. Spores ellipso-spheroidical or sub-spheroidical, rough, dusky, 4–6µ long, 3–5µ broad.
Found in gravelly or sandy soil in woods.
Found at Angora near Philadelphia. Top cracked. Identified by Professor Peck.
Occurs frequently at Mt. Gretna, Pa., ground in mixed woods. August to September. The taste and smell are at first inviting, but the extreme bitter which develops destroys all desire to eat it.