Mushrooms, Pleurotus

Elite life
Mushrooms
Pleurotus
Pleurotus is a genus of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, the Oyster mushroom.
║ Mushrooms ║
Pleurotus dryinus

This distinctive species of Pleurotus has a sturdy, fairly central stem and a partial veil that leaves remnants on the margin of the cap and the stem. Pleurotus dryinus is edible, but not as highly rated as other species of Pleurotus. Growing alone or in small clusters on dead and living wood of hardwoods (especially oaks and beech); summer and fall (winter in coastal California); widely distributed in North America. Habitat on deciduous timber. Found in Europe and throughout most of northern North America. Season July-October.
Description: Cap 5-15 cm across, convex then slowly expanding, margin inrolled; white to cream; surface dry, felty-hairy to slightly scaly. Gills decurrent, crowded, narrow, often cross-veined on the stem; white. Stem 50-100 x 10-30 mm, lateral to just off-center; white; felty, with a slight membranous ring at apex when young, soon vanishing or leaving fragments on cap margin. Flesh firm; white. Odor pleasant. Taste pleasant. Spores cylindrical, 9-12 x 3.5-4 μm. Deposit white.
Tree Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)
Habitat often in large clusters on stumps and fallen or standing trunks, usually of deciduous trees, especially beech. Season all year. Edible and good. Distribution: America and Europe.
Description: Cap 6-14 cm across, shell-shaped, convex at first then flattening or slightly depressed and often wavy and lobed at the margin or splitting, variable in color; flesh-brown or deep blue-grey later more grey-brown. Stem 20-30x10-20 cm, excentric to lateral, or absent, white with a woolly base. Flesh white. Taste and smell pleasant. Gills decurrent, white at first then with a yellowish tinge. Spore print lilac. Spores subcylindric, 7.5-11 x 3-4 μm.
Phoenix, Indian Oyster Mushroom, Pale Oyster (Pleurotus pulmonarius)
Growing in shelf-like clusters on dead and living wood of hardwoods; causing a white rot; beginning in summer (unlike Pleurotus ostreatus) but continuing into fall and winter; widely distributed in North America. Habitat in clusters on deciduous trees. Season autumn. Distribution: America and Europe.
Description: Cap 2-10 cm across, fan- or shell-shaped in overlapping groups, white to cream. Stem very short, lateral. Flesh white. Smell of flour or ammonia. Gills crowded, white then ochraceous-cream. Spore print white. Spores cylindric, 7.5-11 x 3-4 μm.

║ Mushrooms ║