Bleeding tooth fungus looks like a ghoulish forest crime scene. This type of mushroom called Hydnellum peckii also goes by “devil’s tooth fungus” or the much more pleasant sounding “strawberries and cream.” Its signature gooey red liquid is a sap-like substance that oozes out during a process called guttation when the fungi releases excess moisture from its fruiting body. However, it is not always this bright blood-colored hue.
To learn more about these grisly looking fungi (that was also an inspiration for the drug on The Penguin), Popular Science reached out to West Virginia University mycologist Matt Kasson.
[Related: Is this the creepiest fungus in the forest? Yes, definitely.]
Laura Baisas: Tell me a bit about Hydnellum peckii.
Matt Kasson: Hydnellum peckii is a prized mushroom species not for its edibility, but its strange tooth-like projections on the underside and red blood-like droplets that form atop a flattened velvet-like cap. Though inedible, it’s a highly sought-after fungus by photographers and mycophiles alike who want to see and touch its spiny projections and jelly-like droplets which contain pigments coveted by dyers.
LB: Where is it found?
MK: Bleeding tooth can be found widely distributed across North America and Europe with fewer contemporary observations in Asia and South America. Other Hydnellum species with common names like zoned tooth, velvet tooth, orange rough-cap tooth, blue tooth, and sweetgrass tooth also occur in North America and depending on their developmental stage and condition might be mistaken for bleeding tooth.
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