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. 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. In 1871 in his "Führer in die Pilzkunde" ("Guide to Mycology"), Paul Kummer introduced Pleurotus as a genus, but the allocation of P. cornucopiae to it was only done later in 1910 by Léon Louis Rolland. The synonym Pleurotus sapidus due to Schulzer (1873) is sometimes seen The English name "Branched Oyster Mushroom" has been given to this species. The following sections use the given references throughout. 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. 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.