#wild oyster mushrooms

[memoriesofthepark]

Oyster mushrooms!! 》 Pleurotus ostreatus

Gorgeous flush of oysters on campus!!!

I had seen some strange but similar fellows here last semester and IDed them as funnel woodcaps or perhaps linx paw oysters due to their fuzzy stems, but these dont appear to be quite the same species.

The president of the school stopped and chatted with me about them. She asked twice if my observation was related to my major. Nope, just my special interest. 😅

Southeast Texas, 8 Feb. 2023

[hotmushroompics]

[julianplum]

🍄 🐌 🐸 🌿 ✨ // mushroom garden // gouache on hot press paper

[mushroomgay]

I've been slowly building up small stores of wild preserved food over the last year to use through the winter - I'm going to try next year to have about 10% of my food be wild or gardened (I'm moving to a place with a garden!!)! This is a very small target for some people, but we start somewhere :)

This is a delicious meal that I made with sauce from Hawthorn berries. I haven't used them before and was excited to find a new way to preserve vitamin c for throughout the winter. It was delicious! As I was making it, I noticed it tasted a lot like hoisin sauce, so I decided to fry up some oyster mushrooms with the sauce and make a sort of faux vegan hoisin duck pancake with cucumber and spring onions and chilli oil (in this case with gluten free wraps so my husband can eat it too). It was so good!! I'm definitely going to invest a lot of time in harvesting more hawthorn berries next autumn.

[morethansalad]

Naengi Ppang / Shepherd's Purse Buns (Vegan)

opt for vegan oyster sauce

[wildlifetracker]

Some edible mushrooms I've found (and foraged) recently! Chicken of the woods, pheasants back, lobster, and golden chanterelles. Unfortunately no morels for me this year, and I'm still looking for oysters

Disclaimer: please do not eat random mushrooms if you are not 100% certain about the identification

[muscaria-jacksonii]

Velvet oyster mushroom [Pleurotus parsonsiae]

This photo was taken by a friend of mine.

[trippingthemoonlightfantastic]

Tidal Forest

Watercolor On Black Paper

2023, 11"x 14"

Blue Oyster Mushrooms, Pleurotus Columbinus

[awearyelf]

Some fungi me and my partner came across recently

[fungitopia]

Pretty gills

[rebeccathenaturalist]

How to Identify Late Oyster Mushrooms

Click here to learn more about the How to Identify article series.

Name: Late oyster mushrooms (Sarcomyxa serotina)

Range and typical habitat(s): North American west, United States east of the Great Plains, widespread across Europe, extreme east Asia

The top and underside of a late oyster mushroom.

Distinguishing physical characteristics (size, colors, overall shapes, detail shapes): At first glance the this looks like any other oyster mushroom, with its round, shelf-shaped appearance. However, where true oysters (Pleurotus spp.) tend to be gray or white in appearance, the slimy-textured cap of the late oyster can be anywhere from orange to olive-green to violet-tinted, and can grow up to six inches across. The gills are usually yellow to orange, and while some may remain single from the stipe to the edge of the cap, others fork at least once.

Young late oyster mushrooms may have edges that roll under, but when mature they open to a flatter shape, sometimes with a gently scalloped edge. The stipe is quite unique with its fuzzy texture, and is generally very short. The tightly-packed gills are adnate, meaning that they attach to the stipe with their entire width, rather than becoming shorter in height as they approach the stipe. Take a spore print of a late oyster mushroom, and you’ll find a cream to yellow print. The flesh does not bruise or otherwise discolor when damaged.

Notice the texturing on the stipe of this late oyster mushroom.

Like oyster mushrooms, late oysters grow in clusters on decaying hardwood trees, like maples and alders. They gain their “late” name for their tendency to fruit in fall to early winter; October to December is prime time for this fungus. Even in areas that receive frosts and freezes, the mushrooms may keep on growing in spite of the cold.

Other organisms it could be confused with and how to tell the difference: Again, true oyster mushrooms bear the most resemblance to late oysters. In addition to being less colorful–gray to white being most common–true oysters have a smooth rather than fuzzy stipe. Their spore print is usually white, occasionally with a slight purple tint. Finally, the gills of true oysters continue down the stipe (decurrent), while the late oyster’s gills stop at the stipe.

Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus)

Angel wing mushrooms (Pleurocybella porrigens) are another white mushroom found growing on dead wood. They lack the late oyster’s color variety and have decurrent gills that produce white spores, and their flesh tends to be more delicate. Most importantly, angel wings grow on decaying conifers while late oysters grow on hardwood trees, and they fruit in late summer into fall, but not to winter. Angel wing mushrooms used to be considered edible, but a series of poisonings several years ago has put their edibility into question.

Angel wing mushrooms (Pleurocybella porrigens)

Shoehorn oyster mushrooms (Hohenbuehelia petaloides) may sometimes look a bit like a brown-tinted late oyster mushrooms, but look underneath and you’ll see the white gills are decurrent, and they have a white spore print. Also, they tend to grow on woody debris rather than tree trunks, and will fruit anywhere from spring through fall.

Shoehorn oyster mushrooms (Hohenbuehelia petaloides)

The only other significant inedible lookalike besides angel wings is the mock oyster (Phyllotopsis nidulans). The orange cap may look similar to an orange-colored late oyster, but it has a fuzzy texture all over instead of only on the stipe. The gills produce orange to peach spores, are decurrent, and not as tightly packed as on the late oyster. A strong stench is the best way to identify the mock oyster, and should you try eating one it has an equally unappealing flavor and tough texture.

Mock oyster mushrooms (Phyllotopsis nidulans)

Anything else worth mentioning? Late oyster mushrooms are considered edible, though with a rather bland, unexciting flavor. Their texture is good, though, and they lend themselves well to being vehicles for sauces and other flavoring agents. Some people report they can be bitter if the top layer is not peeled off, and it is strongly recommended that they be cooked longer than some other mushrooms, at least 15-20 minutes. This can reduce the chance of gastrointestinal upset, but as always it is best to only try a very small amount of a new mushroom when eating it for the first time, and you MUST make absolutely sure you are 100% certain that what you are about to eat is an edible species.

Further reading:

Late Fall Oyster: Identification, Foraging, and Preparing

Late Fall Oyster Mushrooms: Sarcomyxa serotina

Late Fall Oyster (Panellus serotinus) — Identification & Medicinal Benefits

Late Fall Oyster: Sarcomyxa serotina

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[slinkyslugs]

Winter is a slow season for me. Short days and darkness and sculptural dead garden plants.

However, it is a good time to appreciate the crispness of cold air, the snowflakes, beautiful browns and greens and grays, and the little things that are still alive.

Oyster mushrooms have been a great find down by some dead trees on our property. It really makes me appreciate letting things be, not always having to shape them to their "best." If the dead things weren't left we wouldn't have mushrooms and places for bees to hibernate and seeds for birds to eat. Sometimes people don't want to consider that their ideas of right or beauty could be hurting other living creatures.

...On a lighter note! The beard lichen should be an interesting thing to try natural dyeing with, but alas I do not have the ammonia needed at hand. Will post results when I do though!

Bonus pic of a felted polar bear gift I made 🐻‍❄️

[sp0rewh0re]

todays quick hike finds !!

[designstack]

Pink oyster mushroom. Digital Art Drawing.

Anthropomorphic Mushroom Character Drawings. More art from Feef, on our site.

https://www.designstack.co/2024/04/anthropomorphic-mushroom-character.html

[memoriesofthepark]

My posting has slowed down a lot over the past couple of weeks, but it's not for a lack of mushrooms! Here are some awesome finds from my friend's back yard!

1. Firerug inkcap 》 Coprinellus domesticus

2. Hairy oyster mushroom 》 Panus lecomtei

3. Splitgill fungus 》 Schizophyllum commune

4. Orange pinwheel 》 Marasmius siccus

5. Parasola sp. 》 genus Parasola

Southeast Texas, 15 May 2024

[morethansalad]

Grilled Wild Betel Leaves / Bò Lá Lốt Chay (Vegan)