Bitter Oysterling

Panelius stypticm – Inedible

On dead deciduous wood, especially oak stumps and snags. Autumn, mild winter, spring, summer.

Fruiting bodies small. Cap 1-3 (4) cm across, kidney-, fan- or shell-shaped, eccentric, fibrous, scaly, depressed at the lateral stem, ochre-yellowish-brown, brownish-yellowish, fading to greyish. Gills thin, crowded, brownish-yellow, brownish, adnate. Stem 1-2x0.3-0.3 cm, tapering at the base, fibrous, eccentric, the colour of the gills. Flesh leathery, tough, ochre-yellowish, with a pleasant smell and a sharp, slightly bitter taste. Characteristic features: fruiting bodies leather-yellow, stem eccentric, grows mostly only on dead oak wood. Appears in small groups. Very common. Wood saprotroph. Inedible or even poisonous.