Variable Oysterling

Crepidotus variabilis

On rotten wood, herbaceous debris. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies small. Cap 0.5-3 cm across, horse-hoof-shaped when young, later fan-shaped, irregular, wavy-lobed, greyish, greyish-yellowish, brownish, attached to the substrate by the side; there is no stem, or only a rudimentary remnant of it. Young gills white, later yellowish-brownish, with a pink tinge. Flesh white, thin. Characteristic features: white, slightly fibrous fruiting bodies, spores small. Grows in small groups or groups, fused in overlapping tiers – cap above cap, on deciduous, rarely on dead coniferous wood. Wood saprotroph. Not rare. 150 species of Crepidotus have been described, while in Lithuania only 11 have been identified so far; all are saprotrophs, there are no edible or poisonous ones.