Crepidotus mollis - Peeling Oysterling

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Crepidotus mollis, the Peeling Oysterling is also referred to as the Soft Slipper Mushroom; it is a rubbery, fan-shaped fungus that grows on the trunks and stumps of dead broad-leaf trees, and it is inedible.

This very common summer and autumn species is of dubious edibility and may be poisonous; care is needed if collecting Oyster Mushrooms to avoid accidentally gathering Peeling Oysterlings instead.

Identification guide

	Cap Initially very pale, the kidney-shaped caps turn ochre-brown with age. Faint striations are sometimes visible towards the margin of the cap, which has a gelatinous layer in the upper part of the flesh; this layer isvery elastic, and when stretched a see-through window can be created. The cap flesh is white, very watery and easily broken.
	Gills The pale brown gills fan out from the attachment point; they are soft and gelatinous. As the fruitbody ages, the spores mature and the gills turn rusty brown from the centre.
Stem	Usually there is no visible stipe; the attachment to the substrate is at one edge of the cap; from that point the gills radiate.
Spore print	Snuff brown.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On stumps, dead trunks and fallen branches of deciduous trees.
Season	Late summer and autumn
Occurrence	Infrequent.
Similar species	Crepidotus variabilis is much smaller and paler, with buff gills.