Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Pleurotus pulmonarius

Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quél.

Clustered (8) on a dead hardwood log in stand of young Fagus grandifolia and Acer pensylvanicum, Canoose Flowage Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (13-08-17/04). Collected by Eleni Hinds.

Basidiospores white in spore print, narrowly ellipsoidal, smooth, inamyloid, 5.3-7.8 X 2.9-3.6 μm, D/d = 1.82-2.50 (average[32]: 6.7 X 3.2 μm, D/d = 2.05). Cheilocystidia irregularly ventricose, often with a narrow terminal extension. The pileus trama is interwoven and composed of thick-walled clamped hyphae.

Pleurotus pulmonarius is one of the mushrooms that were lumped together in the past (and often still are) as P. ostreatus, the oyster mushroom. It is a fairly thin, mostly white species with a well-formed lateral stipe. It grows on dead wood of hardwood trees. It might easily be mistaken for P. populinus, a larger and less prominently stalked mushroom found growing on poplar wood. It has been reported under the name P. sapidus, but that name is generally considered to be a synonymous later name for P. pulmonarius.

Pleurotus pulmonarius, P. populinus and P. ostreatus are said to be found in separate but slightly overlapping seasons. Pleurotus pulmonarius is a warm-weather species found in mid-summer; P. populinus occurs in May and June in our climate, and P. ostreatus is said to occur in the cooler autumn and early winter months. While P. ostreatus is included on our checklist it is quite possible that these records represent one of the other two species and should be confirmed.