Late Oyster or Winter Oyster
When you start seeing this mushroom you know you are nearing the end of the big fall fruiting in the Northwest. Indeed it has been called the harbinger of winter, and in the cold of the midwest of the United States there will likely be no other mushrooms for many more months. It is, however, a remarkably cold tolerant species that often be found in snowy winter weather. We start seeing it here in the Northwest in November, but we have a much richer palette of winter fungi than some other parts of the country. It comes in an amazing variety of colors, though some shade of green is nearly always present. Caps in the same cluster may have shades of yellow, orange, purple, maroon, blue or silvery gray. Indeed a single cap may show a rainbow of colors. It is found nearly always on decaying hardwoods like maple or alder, where it is a saprobe on logs, stumps or standing dead trees. It is also occasionally found on hemlock. It is a shelving species with overlapping tiers as a rule, with caps that are fan-shaped or reniform. Caps are lubricious and often a bit sticky when wet, but smooth and shiny when dry. the gills are crowded and yellow-orange, with an adnate attachment to a rudimentary stipe. They do not really run down the stipe. Stipes are short to absent, and when present are orange at first, sometimes with pointillated dots. This intriguing species has in the past been placed in the genus Pleurotus or Panellus, but genetic work has shown it to actually be more closely related to the Hygrophoraceae family. Opinions about its taste and edibility vary. It is said to be sometimes bitter, sometimes mild. In Asia it has long been cultivated and sold in markets with no bitter flavor at all. The Asian species is now classified as Sarcomyxa edulis. What we have here is rather tough and chewy, and the difference in taste may point to substrate differences or species variants. The mushroom has been regarded as of mediocre edibility, but this is due to failure to cook it properly. It requires long cooking, either by grilling or pan-frying long enough to rid it of all moisture, and when patiently cooked can be an excellent edible.