Tooth fungus

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Tooth fungi are a relatively small group of fungi whose mushroom bears its spores on a hymenium - a layer of "mother cells" - that grow on the outside of tooth-like spines, or "teeth". These spines can either grow in branches from the side of the host (as in Hericium coralloides) or on the underside of the cap (as in the hedgehog mushroom, Hydnum repandum). Most tooth fungi are hard and inedible and some are used to make natural dyes. However, a few (such as the bearded tooth Heracium erinaceum) are not. These are often prized as easily identifiable edibles. Another fungus - the toothed jelly fungus, Pseudohydnum gelatinosum - has "teeth" but is a member of a different group, the jelly fungi.

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