''Climacodon pulcherrimus'' is a

white rot A wood-decay or xylophagous fungus is any species of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some species of wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as ''Serpula lacrymans'', and some, such as '' Armillaria'' (honey fungus), are par ...

–causing species of

tooth fungus The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota with basidiocarps (fruit bodies) producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the ge ...

in the family

Phanerochaetaceae The Phanerochaetaceae are a family of mostly crust fungi in the order Polyporales. Taxonomy Phanerochaetaceae was first conceived by Swedish mycologist John Eriksson in 1958 as the subfamily Phanerochaetoideae of the Corticiaceae. It was later ...

. The species was first described as a species of ''

Hydnum ''Hydnum'' is a genus of fungi in the family Hydnaceae. They are notable for their unusual spore-bearing structures of teeth rather than Lamella (mycology), gills. The best known are the Edible mushroom, edible species ''Hydnum repandum'' and ''H ...

'' by

Miles Berkeley Miles Joseph Berkeley (1 April 1803 – 30 July 1889) was an English cryptogamist and clergyman, and one of the founders of the science of plant pathology. Life Berkeley was born at Biggin Hall, Benefield, Northamptonshire, and educated at R ...

and

Moses Ashley Curtis Moses Ashley Curtis (11 May 1808 – 10 April 1872) was a noted American botanist. Biography Curtis was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and educated at Williams College in Massachusetts. After graduating, he became a tutor for the children of ...

in 1849. T. L. Nikolajeva transferred it to its current genus, ''

Climacodon ''Climacodon'' is a widespread genus of hydnoid fungi, tooth fungi in the family Phanerochaetaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Finnish mycologist Petter Karsten in 1881 with ''Climacodon septentrionalis'' ...

'', in 1962, but research published in 2007 suggests it should be placed in a different genus. It is widely distributed in

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

areas, where it grows on decomposing

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

s, causing a white rot.

References

Fungi described in 1849 Fungi of North America Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Phanerochaetaceae Taxa named by Miles Joseph Berkeley Fungus species {{Polyporales-stub