Pleurotus cornucopiae

Pleurotus cornucopiae is a species of edible fungus in the genus Pleurotus, It is quite similar to the better-known Pleurotus ostreatus, 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.

Pleurotus cornucopiae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Pleurotaceae
Genus: Pleurotus
Species:
P. cornucopiae
Binomial name
Pleurotus cornucopiae
(Paulet) Rolland (1910)
Synonyms

Dendrosarcus cornucopiae
Pleurotus sapidus

Pleurotus cornucopiae
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is offset
Hymenium is decurrent
Stipe has a ring
Spore print is white
Ecology is saprotrophic or parasitic
Edibility is edible

Naming

The species name means "of the Cornucopia" (horn of plenty), which is appropriate since the mushrooms are edible and sometimes take on a shape similar to a drinking horn.

The original definition of this species, or basionym, was made by Jean-Jacques Paulet in 1793 as Dendrosarcos cornucopiae. At a time when most gilled mushrooms were lumped into genus Agaricus, 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.[1][2][3] In 1871 in his "Führer in die Pilzkunde" ("Guide to Mycology"), Paul Kummer introduced Pleurotus as a genus,[4] but the allocation of P. cornucopiae to it was only done later in 1910 by Léon Louis Rolland.[2]

The synonym Pleurotus sapidus due to Schulzer (1873) is sometimes seen

The English name "Branched Oyster Mushroom" has been given to this species.[5]

Description

The following sections use the given references throughout.[6][7][8][9]

General
  • The cap grows to about 15 cm, with a pale yellowish, brownish or greyish surface. 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 are decurrent down the stem and anastomose (criss-cross), becoming a network of ridges at the bottom.
  • The strong smell has an aniseed element and is also floury when the mushroom is cut. The taste is floury.[10][9][8]

Microscopic characteristics
  • The flesh may be monomitic (as with ordinary fragile mushrooms) or dimitic, having extra thick-walled hyphae which give the flesh a tougher consistency, especially when older.[8]
  • 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.

Distribution, habitat & ecology

This mushroom is saprobic on dead wood and can also be a weak parasite.[8] 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, where it varies locally between common and fairly rare.[7] It is also reported from the U.S. and Mexico.[11]

Similar species
P. citrinopileatus in a German market

Pleurotus cornucopiae is quite similar to the well-known food mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus, being distinguished because in the latter case, the gills are not very decurrent and the cap colour is slate or bluish grey. Another species, Pleurotus 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.[12] However, according to the mycological reference "Species Fungorum", these are two separate species.[13]

Human impact

This mushroom is edible and it is cultivated in a manner similar to P. ostreatus, though less extensively.[14] For instance 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.[15] 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.[12]

It is a mild parasite of broad-leaved trees.[8]

References
  1. For the original name, see "Dendrosarcus cornucopiae page". Species Fungorum. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  2. For Dendrosarcus and also the current name and synonyms, see "Pleurotus cornucopiae page". Species Fungorum. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  3. Jean-Jacques Paulet (1793). Traité des Champignons. Vol. 2. L'Imprimerie Nationale Exécutive du Louvre. p. 119. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.5417.
  4. Paul Kummer (1871). Der Führer in die Pilzkunde. Anleitung zum methodischen, leichten und sichern Bestimmen der in Deutschland vorkommenden Pilze, mit Ausnahme der Schimmel- und allzu winzigen Schleim- und Kern-Pilzchen [The guide to mycology. Introduction to methodical, easy and reliable identification of mushrooms occurring in Germany, with the exception of moulds and tiny slime moulds and Pyrenomycetes.] (in German). Zerbst: E. Luppe. p. 104.
  5. "Pleurotus cornucopiae (Paulet) Rolland - Branched Oyster Mushroom". Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  6. Marcel Bon (1987). The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-Western Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-340-39935-4.
  7. Courtecuisse, R.; Duhem, B. (2013). Champignons de France et d'Europe (in French). Delachaux et Niestlé. p. 190. ISBN 978-2-603-02038-8. Also available in English.
  8. Knudsen, H.; Vesterholt, J., eds. (2008). Funga Nordica Agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera. Copenhagen: Nordsvamp. p. 322. ISBN 978-87-983961-3-0.
  9. See Meinhard Moser (1983). Keys to Agarics and Boleti. Translated by Simon Plant. London: Roger Phillips. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-9508486-0-0.
  10. Eyssartier, G.; Roux, P. (2013). Le guide des champignons France et Europe (in French). Belin. p. 974. ISBN 978-2-7011-8289-6.
  11. See the Global Biodiversity Information Facility page, which provides hyperlinks to records with geographical location.
  12. Royse DJ (2004). "Yield, mushroom size and time to production of Pleurotus cornucopiae (oyster mushroom) grown on switch grass substrate spawned and supplemented at various rates". Bioresource Technology. 91 (1): 85–91. doi:10.1016/S0960-8524(03)00151-2. PMID 14585625. Note that since the abstract mentions yellow basidiomata (fruiting bodies), this paper is actually referring to P. citrinopileatus as P. cornucopiae.
  13. For the relation to P. citrinopileatus, see "Species Fungorum Pleurotus cornucopiae page". Species Fungorum. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  14. "Some of the Most Important Cultivated Oyster Mushroom Species". Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  15. Shi Xiujuan (2009). "Screening of Pleurotus cornucopiae varieties and culture media suitable to Baoshan local conditions". Acta Agriculturae Shanghai (in Chinese). 25 (3): 137–139.
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