Hedgehog Mushroom / Wood Hedgehog

Hydnum repandum

Coniferous and deciduous forests, especially spruce forests. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies medium-sized and larger. Cap 5-10 (15) cm across, rarely larger, whitish, pale yellow, the surface smooth. On the underside whitish, yellowish, soft, brittle decurrent spines. Stem 3—8x0.5—2 cm, central or eccentric, white, yellowish. Flesh yellowish, when old slightly acrid. Characteristic features: cap slightly depressed, lobed and wavy, fleshy. Grows singly. Edible. The Terracotta Hedgehog (Hydnum rufescens Fr.) is similar, only its fruiting bodies are yellowish-orange, yellowish-brown in colour. Both species often grow next to each other; in earlier literature they were even considered identical. Edible. Common. Protected.