''Pleurotus cornucopiae'' is a species of edible fungus in the genus ''

Pleurotus ''Pleurotus'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, '' P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some of the most commonly cultivated ...

'', It is quite similar to the better-known ''

Pleurotus ostreatus ''Pleurotus ostreatus'' (commonly known the oyster mushroom, grey oyster mushroom, oyster fungus, hiratake, or pearl oyster mushroom). Found in temperate and subtropical forests around the world, it is a popular edible mushroom. Name Both th ...

'', and like that species is cultivated and sold in markets in Europe and China, but it is distinguished because its gills are very decurrent, forming a network on the stem.

Naming

The species name means "of the

Cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...

" (horn of plenty), which is appropriate since the mushrooms are edible and sometimes take on a shape similar to a

drinking horn A drinking horn is the horn (anatomy), horn of a bovid used as a cup. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity, especially the Balkans. They remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period ...

. The original definition of this species, or

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

, was made by

Jean-Jacques Paulet Jean-Jacques Paulet (26 April 1740 – 4 August 1826) was a French mycologist. Paulet was born in Anduze, France and studied medicine in Montpellier, where he received his PhD in March 1764. He published in Paris in 1765 a book titled ''d’Hist ...

in 1793 as ''Dendrosarcos cornucopiae''. At a time when most

gilled mushrooms The Agaricales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics (gilled mushrooms), but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are closely related and some belong in o ...

were lumped into genus ''

Agaricus ''Agaricus'' is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi containing both edible and poisonous species, with over 400 members worldwide and possibly again as many disputed or newly discovered species. The genus includes the common ("button") mushroom ...

'', Paulet invented genus ''Dendrosarcos'', later Latinised to ''Dendrosarcus'', for those having an excentric or missing stipe. In fact those fungi have not been found to be a closely related group, and today the name only has historical interest, though the taxonomic rules imply that it still needs to be recorded. In 1871 in his "Führer in die Pilzkunde" ("Guide to Mycology"),

Paul Kummer Paul Kummer (22 August 1834 – 6 December 1912) was a Minister (Christianity), minister, teacher, and scientist in Zerbst, Germany, known chiefly for his contribution to mycological botanical nomenclature, nomenclature. Earlier Taxonomy (biology), ...

introduced ''Pleurotus'' as a genus, but the allocation of ''P. cornucopiae'' to it was only done later in 1910 by

Léon Louis Rolland Léon Louis Rolland (10 December 1841 – 11 June 1912) was a French mycologist. Early life Rolland, whose father was an engineer and director of the Coal mining, coal mines in the region, began his secondary education at the lycée (high scho ...

. The synonym ''Pleurotus sapidus'' due to Schulzer (1873) is sometimes seen The English name "Branched Oyster Mushroom" has been given to this species.

Description

The following sections use the given references throughout.

General

*The cap grows to about wide, whitish when young then darkening to brownish with age. At most there may be very slight traces of the veil. *The stem is always present, may be forked and can vary from excentric to fairly central. Each stem may be up to about 12 cm long and up to 2 cm thick. *The whitish

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

are

decurrent ''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward. In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...

down the stem and

anastomose An anastomosis (, : anastomoses) is a connection or opening between two things (especially cavities or passages) that are normally diverging or branching, such as between blood vessels, leaf veins, or streams. Such a connection may be normal (su ...

(criss-cross), becoming a network of ridges at the bottom. *The flesh is firm and white. The strong smell has an

aniseed Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, ...

element and is also floury when the mushroom is cut. The taste is floury.

Microscopic characteristics

*The flesh may be

monomitic A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

(as with ordinary fragile mushrooms) or

dimitic A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

, having extra thick-walled hyphae which give the flesh a tougher consistency, especially when older. *The spores in the form of an rather elongated ellipsoid are around 8-12 μm by 3.5-5.5 μm. *There are no

cystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are o ...

Similar species

''Pleurotus cornucopiae'' is quite similar to the well-known food mushroom ''

'', being distinguished because in the latter case, the gills are not very

and the cap colour is slate or bluish grey. Another species, ''P. pulmonarius'' has a comparable cap colour to ''P. cornucopiae'' but the gills on the stipe are similar to ''P. ostreatus''. It is even more closely related to the yellow-capped "golden oyster mushroom", '' Pleurotus citrinopileatus'', which is native to eastern Asia. The forms are easily distinguishable by the cap colour, but they are sometimes considered to be just varieties of the same species, and as a consequence golden oyster mushrooms are sometimes identified using the older scientific name ''Pleurotus cornucopiae''. However, according to the mycological reference "Species Fungorum", these are two separate species.

Distribution and habitat

This mushroom is

saprobic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

on dead wood and can also be a weak

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

. It occurs stumps and fallen trunks of oak, beech, elm, and other broad-leaved trees. Appearing from spring to late summer, it is distributed in the wild throughout Europe (from August to November), where it varies locally between common and fairly rare. It is also reported from the U.S. and Mexico.

Ecology

It is a mild parasite of broad-leaved trees.

Uses

This mushroom is edible and it is cultivated in a manner similar to '' P. ostreatus'', though less extensively. Specimens are best collected young and with the tougher stems dicarded. A Chinese paper evaluated several commercially available varieties of ''P. cornucopiae'' and reported that it in the Shanghai area an appropriate growth medium is cotton-seed hulls and wood-chips, with 65% water content. Another paper (actually treating the yellow-topped form) also suggested pasteurized switch grass as a useful substrate, though the yield was less than with cotton-seed hulls and straw.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q834124 Fungal tree pathogens and diseases Pleurotaceae Edible fungi Fungus species