Tag Archives: Pleurotus ostreatus

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With our early rains comes early mushrooms! On a walk in the forest yesterday Rick and I found Golden Chanterelles, Cantharellus cibarius, Oyster Mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Turkey Tails, Trametes versicolor. Many tiny mushrooms appeared this morning and four round puffball mushrooms joined them. Boletus edulis, King Boletes, can't be far behind. Let the wild mushroom frenzy begin!

These Golden Chanterelles look almost white in this picture.

Growing on a Tan-Oak snag, these Oyster Mushrooms will get bigger in the warm days to come.
Perhaps you know the name of this mushroom? It's some type of puffball. Note the bite taken out of its side.

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Rick and I, along with our friends Nan Brichetto and Frank Drouillard, went on a hike this morning with our two Golden Retrievers. We were shocked and amazed to come across this large group of Oyster Mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus. They normally are found later in the fall and winter but I guess our weather has been so cool that they decided to make an early appearance. They are, of course, edible and delicious!

They were fruiting on a downed Tanoak, a hardwood that grows on the Mendonoma Coast. In this next picture they look like gardenias!

And we aren't the only creatures that covet these fungi. Check out the Banana Slugs feasting on these mushrooms on the picture below.

A gift in the forest - thank you Mother Nature!
To see another early fruiting mushroom, a Dyer's Polypore, click on this link:
http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/08/26/dyers-polypore-a-wild-mushroom-continues-to-evolve-continues-to-fascinate/
      My best to you today, Jeanne Jackson