Oyster Mushroom

Description:

Gilled mushroom that grows with the stipe on the side. Looks very like a cluster of oyster shells. The cap is fleshy and soft, growing in clusters on the sides of dead trees or fallen logs, in this case an alder.

Habitat:

Dead trees or fallen ones. Seem to fruit all over the tree right down to the soil and sometimes under the leaf litter around the bottom, probably on dead wood there too. These ones were fruiting in May but will go back and look throughout the year, as one source says that Oyster mushrooms fruit all year round, with the winter ones being slightly greyer or browner.

Notes:

One source calls them Pleurotus pulmonarius and another P. ostreatus, not sure which species name is correct. These are so beautiful. Like finding a treasure in your woods!