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Oudemansiella mucida |
Oudemansiella mucida, the Porcelain Mushroom is specific to beech wood. It appears in autumn on dead trunks and on fallen branches, and occasionally it also grows on living trees. Provided that the skin is peeled from the caps, these mushrooms are edible. Only larger caps are worth collecting, however, because the flesh is quite thin. |
The Porcelain Mushroom, Oudemansiella mucida, is sometimes also known as the Poached Egg fungus - a reference to the white of the egg rather than the yolk, of course! This fungus is weakly parasitic upon beech trees, and on breezy days in autumn it is not unusual to see what appear to be tiny parachutes falling from high branches after the fungi have been dislodged by the wind. |
Cap |
2 to 8 cm in diameter, semi-transparent and
white, the caps of this lovely mushroom are rounded and tend to remain
broadly domed rather than completely flat as the fruiting bodies mature.
The gills show through the thin cap flesh, giving the margin a striate
appearance.
A mucous slime covers the cap during wet weather. |
Gills |
Adnate, broad and very distant, the gills are translucent white at first, sometimes developing an ochre tint as the fruiting body ages. |
Stipe |
Slender, with a substantial stem ring, the stems are 3 to 7 mm in diameter,
up to 8 cm long, and often curved so as to bring the cap to the horizontal
in situations where large tufts of Porcelain Mushrooms are attached to a
small area of the host.
Above the ring, the stem is white; below the ring it is slightly striate and greyish. |
Spore print |
White. |
Odour/taste |
Not distinctive. |
Habitat |
On stumps, trunks and branches of dead beech trees; also weakly parasitic upon living beech trees, often very high up. |
Season |
July to October. |
Occurrence |
Common. |
Similar species |
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