Northern Tooth
Climacodon septentrionalis
Instead of typical gills or pores, the underside of this bracket fungus features thousands of tightly packed, icicle-like 'teeth' that point downward to release its spores.
- Scientific name
- Climacodon septentrionalis
- Taxonomy
- Fungi › Basidiomycota › Agaricomycetes › Polyporales › Meruliaceae › Climacodon
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Deciduous and mixed forests, growing primarily on the trunks of living hardwood trees, especially maples and beeches.
- Diet
- Saprotrophic and parasitic; decays the heartwood of host trees to extract nutrients, causing white rot.
- Range
- North America, Europe, Northern Asia
- Size
- Stacked shelving structures can grow up to 30 cm wide and 10 cm thick, weighing several kilograms.
- Lifespan
- The visible fruiting bracket lasts only a single season (weeks to months), but the internal mycelium can live inside the host tree for decades.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Deforestation, forest fragmentation, and the removal of mature, dead, or dying host trees during intensive logging.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to touch and safe to observe at any distance. This fungus is non-toxic but extremely tough, fibrous, and bitter, making it completely inedible. No special action is required upon contact, though washing hands after handling wild fungi is always recommended.
Climacodon septentrionalis is a species of polypore fungus in the family Meruliaceae . It is a plant pathogen. Originally named Hydnum septentrionale by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, it was transferred to the genus Climacodon by Petter Karsten in 1881. It is inedible.
Photo: caspar s, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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