Pleurotus cornucopiae - Branched Oyster Mushroom

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

The branching nature of these funnel-shaped oysters helps distinguish them from other members of the Pleurotus genus. Often several caps share a common stem.

Branching Oyster Mushrooms were a common sight at the height of Dutch elm disease. While they continue to show a partiality for dead elms, they are now most often seen on dying or dead Beech trees.

Identification Guide

	Cap Cream or light ochre; covered in a fine white bloom when young, becoming smooth with age; convex, becoming centrally depressed and then funnel-shaped with a wavy margin that sometimes splits when old; attached to the substrate via an eccentric stem or occasionally appearing to be stemless; groups of caps often overlapping in tiers up the trunk of an infected tree. Gills White, maturing to pale buff; branching; deeply decurrent, becoming shallow grooves that often extend right down to the substrate.
Stem	White or cream; to 5cm long and 1 to 2.5cm dia.; no ring.
Spore print	White or pale cream.
Odour/taste	Not significant.
Habitat	On dead wood of deciduous broadleaf trees, particularly elms and Beech.
Season	Summer and autumn.
Occurrence	Uncommon.
Similar species	Pleurotus dryinus has a frosted cap; its stem has a short-lived ring.