August 2009 - I visited some very old beech woods in the New Forest - and found oyster mushrooms growing on the fallen boughs.
What Are Oyster Mushrooms?
Pleurotus spp - flat, shelf-like fungi found growing on dead and dying deciduous wood - they are typically found in layered clusters. They have a texture varying from leathery when young to softly rubbery when larger.
Underneath, they have deep, soft radial gills. Several species may be found - all quite similar except for colour - which may be white, grey, pale brown or yellow.
IT IS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY to take adequate steps in identifying any fungi you gather for the table - doubly so if you are intending to share them with someone else.
Informal descriptions, such as the one on this page, are inadequate for full identification.
Rules of thumb or folk wisdom identification methods are frequently unreliable.
Consult a comprehensive identification guide (I recommend RogersMushrooms.com and Wild Mushrooms Online) or best of all, talk to a living human expert mycologist.
These are some of the younger specimens, shown here after detaching from the trunk.
The stalks are quite tough and fibrous or wooly in texture - harvesting them is best done with a sharp knife.
This is the favourite habitat of Oyster mushrooms - deciduous forest with lots of fallen trunks and branches that are not cleared away, but left to decay in situ.
