Bitter Oyster

Description:

The Bitter Oyster grows in dense clusters on deadwood. Individual caps are quite small, kidney shaped with a short lateral stem, light brown and not exceeding 4cm across. Bellow, the margin slightly curved under. Gills are crowded and often forked.

Habitat:

Found growing in dense clusters on deadwood, on old logs and branches discarded and lying around on a forest floor. The forest is an old and protected lowland broadleaved forest (oak and beech), in Geneva lake valley.

Notes:

1. Interesting thing is that this mushroom is said to be bioluminescent, or having gills that produce a light glow in the dark. Unfortunately for me, by the time I IDed this fungi and learnt about its bioluminescence, it was already too late to go back and check this - well over a month had passed and these caps were not there anymore... 2. This fungus is not edible - it is not poisonous, but they say the taste is very bitter.