Habitat: Auriscalpium vulgare is found primarily on (often buried) Douglas-fir cones in the PNW. Elsewhere it can often be found on the cones of pine or occasionally spruce.

Substrate: Fallen or buried cones

Conservation Status: Not of concern

ear-pick fungus, ear-spoon fungus, pinecone mushroom, pinecone tooth

Spores are white. Fruitbody growth of up to 1 inch and a cap diameter of 1 inch. Species with similar looking fruitbodies will reveal gills rather than spines underneath the cap.

Sources: Trudell, Steve and Joe Ammirati. Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Timber Press, Inc. 2009. Roberts, Peter and Evans, Shelley. The Book of Fungi. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2011.