The fungus produces fruit bodies (mushrooms) that are characterized by their spore-bearing structures—in the form of spines rather than gills—which hang down from the underside of the cap.

The cap is dry, colored yellow to light orange to brown, and often develops an irregular shape, especially when it has grown closely crowded with adjacent fruit bodies.

A mycorrhizal fungus, Hydnum repandum is broadly distributed in Europe[8] where it fruits singly or in close groups in coniferous or deciduous woodland.

First officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 Species Plantarum, Hydnum repandum was sanctioned by Swedish mycologist Elias Fries in 1821.

[18] Form amarum, published from Slovenia by Zlata Stropnik, Bogdan Tratnik and Garbrijel Seljak in 1988,[19] is illegitimate as per article 36.1 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, as it was not given a sufficiently comprehensive description.

These genetic differences foreshadowed the presence of undescribed cryptic species, and that the taxon may currently be undergoing intensive speciation.

[22] A comprehensive genetic study published in 2016 of members of the genus worldwide found that there are at least four species in the broad concept of H. repandum: two species from southern China, one from Europe and eastern North America, and H. repandum itself from Europe and northern (and alpine southwestern) China and Japan.

Although it is missing from Central America, genetic material has been recovered from Venezuela from the tree Pakaraimaea dipterocarpacea, suggesting it somehow migrated there and had changed hosts.

It is generally somewhat irregular in shape (possibly being convex or concave at maturity), with a wavy margin that is rolled inward when young.

Basidiospores are smooth, thin-walled and hyaline (translucent), roughly spherical to broadly egg-shaped, and measure 5.5–7.5 by 4.5–5.5 μm.

[27] Both H. repandum and the variety album contain the diepoxide compound repandiol (2R,3R,8R,9R)-4,6-decadiyne-2,3:8,9-diepoxy-1,10-diol), which is under laboratory research to determine its possible effects.

[34] European studies conducted after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster showed that the fruit bodies have a high rate of accumulation of the radioactive isotope caesium.

[38] Hydnum ellipsosporum, described as a new species from Germany in 2004, differs from H. repandum by the shape and length of its spores, which are ellipsoid and measure 9–11 by 6–7.5 μm.

[30] The fruit bodies grow singly, scattered, or in groups on the ground or in leaf litter in both coniferous and deciduous forests.

[47] Author Michael Kuo gives it an edibility rating of "great" and notes that there are no poisonous lookalikes, and that H. repandum mushrooms are unlikely to be infested with maggots.

H. repandum mushrooms can be cooked by pickling,[48] simmering in milk or stock, and sautéeing, which creates a "tender, meaty texture and a mild flavor.

[51] The form amarum, locally common in Slovakia, is reportedly inedible because its fruit body has a bitter taste at all developmental stages.