Hydnoid fungi

The Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus paid particular attention to the group, producing a series of papers reviewing the taxonomy of hydnoid fungi.

Some terrestrial species producing fruit bodies with a pileus (cap) and stipe (stem) are collectively known as the stipitate hydnoid fungi and are often studied as a group because of their ecological similarity.

In the United Kingdom the stipitate hydnoid fungi have been given Biodiversity Action Plan status[8] which has increased interest in the group and has generated funding to be put into survey work[9][10] and other research.

The largest group of fungi formerly placed in the genus Hydnum are wood-rotting species, forming patch-like fruit bodies on dead attached branches, logs, stumps, and fallen wood.

Genera that have hydnoid or odontioid representatives include Hydnochaete, Hyphodontia and Odonticium (Hymenochaetales), Dentipellis (Russulales), Dentocorticium, Mycoacia, Radulodon, Steccherinum (Polyporales) and Sarcodontia.