Mock Oyster, Orange Oyster Phyllotopsis nidulans
This fan-shaped, densely hairy mushroom, with a skunk-like smell, grows in clusters or overlapping shelves on dead hardwoods and conifers.
Appearance
- Fan-shaped and 2-8 cm. wide
- Upper surface densely hairy and pale apricot-brown to buff-brown
- Lower surface has pale orange-buff true gills
- Spore print pale salmon-pink
- Without a stipe (stem)
- Grows in clusters or forms overlapping shelves
At Edgewood
- See iNaturalist for observations in Edgewood
About
- Basidiomycetes – a major lineage of fungi that usually produce spores within basidia (club-like structures)
- Found from mid to late winter
- Saprotrophic – grows on dead hardwoods and conifers
- Edibility (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)
- Unknown
- Unless you are an expert, do not pick and consume wild mushrooms
- Smell, when present, is distinctly skunk-like
Fun Facts
- Stinking orange oyster is morphologically categorized as a pleurotoid mushroom, named for their characteristic oyster-like shape
Learn More
Kuo, M. 2021, Mar. The gilled mushrooms. MushroomExpert.Com.
Kuo, M. 2005, Feb. Pleurotoid mushrooms. MushroomExpert.Com.
Roehl, T. 2017, Jul. 14. #013: Characteristics of division Basidiomycota. Fungus Fact List. Fungus Fact Friday.
Roehl, T. 2017, Jul. 7. #027: Gilled mushrooms (agarics). Fungus Fact List. Fungus Fact Friday.
Roehl, T. 2017, Jul. 7. #180: Pleurotoid mushrooms. Fungus Fact List. Fungus Fact Friday.
References
Desjardin, D.E., M.G. Wood, and F.A. Stevens. 2016. California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.
Kuo, M. 2017, May. Phyllotopsis nidulans. MushroomExpert.Com.
Wood, M., and F. Stevens. 2020. Phyllotopsis nidulans. The Fungi of California. MykoWeb.