Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope, smooth, broadly ellipsoid, 7 × 6-7 µm, and not becoming bluish grey in solutions containing iodine.
Cystidia: absent.
Habitat & Distribution: The ‘wood-hedgehog’ grows on the ground in mixed woods and is easily recognised by its colour and fleshy texture.
General Information: The closely related, smaller, red-brown species H. rufescens Persoon grows with conifers. Hydnum was formerly a genus which contained several entities, now not considered closely related. Thus the following genera have been delimited in addition to those related to Hydnum repandum and H. rufescens, and Auriscalpium described on [p. 158].
Sarcodon: Fruit-body fleshy: spores brown and ornamented with irregular bumps, e.g. S. imbricatum (Fries) Karsten.
Phellodon: Fruit-body tough and fibrous: spores white and ornamented with small spines, e.g. P. niger (Fries) Karsten.
Hydnellum: Fruit-body tough and fibrous: spores brown and ornamented with irregular bumps and bosses, e.g. H. scrobiculatum (Secretan) Karsten.
Bankera: Fruit-body fleshy: spores white and ornamented with small spines, e.g. B. fuliginoalbum (Fries) Pouzar.
Illustrations: Hvass 280; LH 61; NB 1533; WD 534; Z 61.
Plate 53. Tough or leathery fungi: Spores whitish and borne on spines