Orange oyster mushroom (Phyllotopsis nidulans)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Tricholomataceae (Tricholomaceae or Ordinary)
- Genus: Phyllotopsis (Phyllotopsis)
- Species: Phyllotopsis nidulans (Orange oyster mushroom)
Synonyms :
Phyllotopsis nesting
- Phyllotopsis nest-like
- Agaricus nidulans
- Pleurotus nidulans
- Crepidotus nidulans
- Claudopus nidulans
- Dendrosarcus nidulans
- Panus nidulans
- Dendrosarcus mollis
- Panus foetens
- Agaricus odorativus
Orange oyster mushroom is a very beautiful autumn mushroom, which, due to its bright appearance, can hardly be confused with other oyster mushrooms. It continues to delight the eye even in winter and early spring, although overwintered mushrooms no longer look so impressive.
Cap : from 2 to 8 cm in diameter, adherent sideways or apex, more or less fan-shaped, flat-convex, dry, densely pubescent (due to which it may appear whitish), in young mushrooms with a tucked edge inward, in mature mushrooms with a drooping and sometimes wavy, orange or yellow-orange hues, usually with a lighter and yellow edge, may be with diffuse concentric banding. Overwintered specimens are usually dimmer.
Leg : absent.
Plates : wide, frequent, diverging from the base, dark yellow or yellow-orange, of a more intense shade than the cap.
Flesh : thin, light orange.
Spore powder : pale pinkish to pinkish brownish.
Spores: 5-8 x 2-4 µ, smooth, non-amyloid, oblong-elliptical.
Taste and smell : different authors describe it differently, the taste is from mild to putrid, the smell is strong enough, from fruity to putrid. Taste and smell presumably depends on the age of the fungus and the substrate on which it grows.
Habitat : usually grows in not very numerous groups (rarely singly) on valezh, stumps and branches of deciduous and coniferous species. It is not common. The growth period is from September to November (and in mild climates also in winter). Widely distributed in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, common in North America, Europe and the European part of Russia.
Edible : not poisonous, but considered inedible due to its tough consistency and unpleasant taste and smell, although, according to some sources, young mushrooms that have not yet acquired the above gastronomic disadvantages can be eaten.