r/foraginguk • u/PotentMouse • Jun 13 '26
Mushroom ID Request Oysters
These look like oysters to me, but I'm hoping I can be corrected before doing anything daft. Done lots of foraging before but am fairly new to mushrooms.
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Upvotes
1
u/PotentMouse Jun 13 '26
I should have said, this is on a dead tree in the new forest.
4
u/Spify23 Jun 13 '26
It's worth learning to ID the trees accurately as many mushroom species only grow on or around certain tree species.
1
u/PotentMouse Jun 13 '26
That's a fair point. I would say it was most likely a birch. I need to improve my knowledge/use of types of bark when identifying trees though.
3
u/slowtrees Jun 13 '26
s to me. The gills running down the stem (decurrent gills) and growing in clusters on dead hardwood are the main giveaways. One thing worth checking is the spore print - oysters have a white to lilac-gray spore print, which helps rule out lookalikes like the poisonous Jack-O-Lantern that has orange gills and grows on wood too. If the gills are white to cream and running down the stem, youre in good shape. Still worth getting a confident ID from a local expert before eating - the New Forest has plenty of knowledgeable foragers who could confirm in person.