The name Oyster Mushroom is applied to many species with either short or non-existant stems that grow in the wild or are cultured and sold in grocery stores. Since their flavours are often very different, distinctions should be made, which is what the specialty companies that cultivate them endeavour to do.
Oyster Mushrooms usually fructify on the stumps or dead trunks of deciduous hardwood trees in rather isolated or dense clumps. The top of the cap is darker in colour, but the gills are white and fine. These mushrooms are prolific producers of spores that can cause health problems for those who grow them.
Generally speaking, these are wood decay fungi; however, some species attack living trees that are injured or weak. Fructifying in the summer when insects are most active, the Oyster Mushrooms that are spared go directly to packaging plants.
Photos: Fernand Miron, École forestière de La Tuque.
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