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 not adequate for full identification - it's just good sense to independently verify everything you read here.
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.
