Phellodon

Phellodon is a genus of tooth fungi in the family Bankeraceae. Species have small- to medium-sized fruitbodies with white spines on the underside from which spores are released. All Phellodon have a short stalk or stipe, and so the genus falls into the group known as stipitate hydnoid fungi. The tough and leathery flesh usually has a pleasant, fragrant odor, and develops a cork-like texture when dry. Neighboring fruitbodies can fuse, sometimes producing large mats of joined caps. Phellodon species produce a white spore print, while the individual spores are roughly spherical to ellipsoid in shape, with spiny surfaces.

The genus, with about 20 described species, has a distribution that includes to Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. About half of the species are found in the southeastern United States, including three species added to the genus in 2013–14. Several Phellodon species were placed on a preliminary Red List of threatened British fungi because of a general decline of the genus in Europe. Species grow in a symbiotic mycorrhizal association with trees from the families Fagaceae (beeches and oaks) and Pinaceae (pines). Accurate DNA-based methods have been developed to determine the presence of Phellodon species in the soil, even in the extended absence of visible fruitbodies. Although Phellodon fruitbodies are considered inedible due to their fibrous flesh, the type species, P. niger, is used in mushroom dyeing.