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Help identifying this Oyster-looking mushroom?


JulieFern

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Hi, I am new to this forum and decided to join due to my increasing interest in wild mushrooms. I am still very much a novice at mushroom identifying, saw these beauties yesterday up my local woods and had to know what they are.

The texture seems quite gelatinous, rubbery, my friend called them "juicy."  The smell is a pleasant, subtle mushroomy smell. The tops are a light brown and the gills are white/brown, deep and far apart like an oyster mushroom. They are very juicy and a emit a clear-to-cloudy liquid.

I took some home with me so I might do a spore print.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

 

Thanks, JC

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These are Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus species). The rubbery/juicy texture and liquid emission are likely due to a high water content. Looks like these had just been rained on. It may be a little tricky getting a good spore print from these mushrooms, because of the excess moisture. The spore-collection medium gets wet and the moisture effects the appearance of the spore print. Pleurotus species have spore print colors ranging from white to pale lilac to smoky grayish lilac. 

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1 hour ago, Dave W said:

These are Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus species). The rubbery/juicy texture and liquid emission are likely due to a high water content. Looks like these had just been rained on. It may be a little tricky getting a good spore print from these mushrooms, because of the excess moisture. The spore-collection medium gets wet and the moisture effects the appearance of the spore print. Pleurotus species have spore print colors ranging from white to pale lilac to smoky grayish lilac. 

Thank you, Dave W! I will go get more tomorrow and dry them out :)

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Dehydrated Oyster Mushrooms do not re-hydrate really well. If you collect some of these saturated ones, then I think your best bet is to lie them out in the open --on a counter or table top-- and then cook them after they lose enough moisture to firm up a bit. Or, you can saute the moist ones and cook out the moisture. Quality is somewhat diminished when they get soaked. If it doesn't rain between now and tomorrow, then the mushrooms may dry out in situ (to some extent). Or, you may run across some freshly fruited ones that are firmer.  

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Nice! Looks like those have lost a little moisture in the meantime. They look to be very nice quality.

Just to be sure... Oysters should be found growing on wood, occasionally buried wood (which may make it look like they're growing from the ground. If you cannot find the wood, then the mushrooms may be something other than Oysters (Pleurotus). 

Also, true Oysters (Pleurotus) grow on the wood of hardwood/deciduous trees. Smaller/daintier white oyster-like mushroom found growing on coniferous wood --hemlock, pine, spruce-- are probably Angel Wings (Pleurocybella porrigens). This type mushroom is listed as edible in many field guides. I have eaten and enjoyed it. (Actually, Oysters are better.) But several years ago, there was an incident in Japan where residents living in an assisted care facility for elderly were sickened by a meal of Angel Wings. So, I think it's wise to try to determine the type of wood where your "Oysters" are found, at least to the extent where you can tell if it's hardwood or conifer. The mushrooms seen in the photos here look like true Oyster Mushrooms. Note that the ones in the top photo have caps with a tan/light-brown color on top. The ones in the lower photo appear to be white. This variation in color is typical for Oysters. 

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Okay, sorry. Didn't see the different names on the posts. White, beige, tan, light brown, brown, grey/gray... all colors that may be seen on Oysters. There's even a non-native cultivated species of Pleurotus that's yellow and which has been found growing in natural settings in North America.             

http://mushroomobserver.org/observer/observation_search?pattern=Pleurotus+citrinopileatus

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