Phellodon niger is a mycorrhizal fungus found world-wide, growing alone or in groups on soil in forests and heathlands, sometimes fusing together. Caps to 50 mm, flat to funnel-shaped, tough and leathery, radially silky-striate, zoned colours from blue-black ageing to black, but margin pale grey. Teeth underneath tiny, pale grey-lilac when fresh; can be quite shallow; spore print white; slightly decurrent. Stem short, stout, tough, black, tapering to base. Jack Cann Reserve, Blackwood, 2005.