''Climacodon pulcherrimus'' is a 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 g ...

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 ...

. It was first described as a species of '' Hydnum'' 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 in 1849. T.L. Nikolajeva transferred it to its current genus ''

Climacodon ''Climacodon'' is a widespread genus of tooth fungi in the family Phanerochaetaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed by Finnish mycologist Petter Karsten in 1881 with ''Climacodon septentrionalis'' as the type species. This fungus was orig ...

'' 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 to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

areas, where it grows on decomposing

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

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 {{Polyporales-stub