Kingdom Fungi > Division Basidiomycota > Class Agaricomycetes > Order Polyporales > Family Meruliaceae.
It was previouly Phanerochaete chrysorhiza in family Phanerochaetaceae.
The families are closely related to each other.
Hydnophlebia is a genus of five species of toothed crust fungi.
Hydnophlebia chrysorhiza is the type species for the genus.
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Hydnophlebia chrysorhiza is the Spreading yellow tooth fungus.
It is a crust fungus that causes a white rot in dead trees.
There may be branching orange rhizomorphs up to 20 cm long.
Individual crusts are up to 6 cm or more across.
The crust is bright reddish-orange or orange-yellow.
The margin may be the same colour or whitish.
The growing margin has fine hairs or long, slender, hair-like processes or hyphae.
Crusts can be easily removed from the wood substrate.
The spore bearing (odontioid hymenial) surface is the same colour as the crust.
It is covered with crowded conical, yellow to orange teeth, up to about 2 mm high with rounded tips.
(In some species the teeth are just very low bumps.)
Specimens are sometimes found with just a few scattered teeth or none at all.
J.F.
