I noticed back in January that one of the street trees in the village was sporting a fine crop of oyter mushrooms (Pleurotus sp.)
I tend to get rather confused by descriptions of the various Pleurotus species in my field guides. It never sounds like there's much to separate them.
I'm pretty sure I've never seen the Branched Oyster Pleurotus cornucopiae as that species has a distinctive – yup, you've guessed it: branched – growing habit.
But how to tell the difference between the other two: Oyster Mushroom P. ostreatus and Pale Oyster P. pulmonarius?
Over on the British Mycological Society Facebook Page, Andy Overall explained that, "P. ostreatus is highly variable but it is often a fleshy thing and more often around at this time of year. P. pulmonarius is in comparison a much less robust and less fleshy and almost always very pale."
So Andy ID'd this specimen as Oyster Mushroom P. ostreatus.
My winter tree identification skills being what they are (i.e. very poor), I've had to wait until now to confirm what it was growing on.
Rowan Sorbus aucuparia. In leaf at last.
For the record
Date: 20/01/2018
Location: Small Dole
Grid reference: TQ214130
Record entered into FRDBI 07/09/2018
