Oyster mushroom

Description:

Pleurotus ostreatus has a broad, fan or oyster-shaped cap spanning 5 – 25 cm. Natural specimens range from white to gray or tan to dark-brown. The margin is inrolled when young, and is smooth and often somewhat lobed or wavy. The flesh is white, firm, and varies in thickness due to stipe arrangement. The gills of the mushroom are white to cream, and descend on the stalk if present. If so, the stipe is off-center with a lateral attachment to wood. The spore print of the mushroom is white to lilac-gray, and best viewed on dark background. The mushroom's stipe is often absent. When present, it is short and thick.

Habitat:

Oyster mushrooms are sometimes weakly parasitic but more often saprobic and found on dying or dead standing deciduous broadleaf trees, particularly beech and oaks and sometimes on fallen trunks and large branches.

Notes:

Spotted on a beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) near Frieswijk, Holland. (sources:see reference)