Oyster mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus

Русское название: Вёшенка обыкновенная

Widely cultivated as food, this wood-decaying fungus helps recycle nutrients in forests. Wild shelf-like fungi can be confused with other species. Commercially grown mushrooms are easier to trace than unidentified forest collections.

✳ Scientific names are used to reduce confusion between local names.

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Safety information

Never decide to eat a wild mushroom from a photograph or online description. A mistake can be fatal. For mushroom ingestion or suspected poisoning, contact emergency medical services or a poison centre immediately, even if symptoms have not appeared.

Irish Poisons Centre mushroom safety ↗

◎Distribution

Temperate regions worldwide

♧Habitat

Decaying hardwood logs and standing dead trees

✺Identification limits

Images and brief descriptions are for learning, not for reliably identifying a specimen. Take particular care with poisonous plants and mushrooms.

Further reading and image creditsPleurotus ostreatus — Wikipedia overview ↗Photo, author and license — Wikimedia Commons ↗

Identification is never guaranteed by a photo. Scientific names are used to reduce confusion between local names.

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