''Pleurotus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, '' P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some of the most commonly cultivated edible mushrooms in the world. ''Pleurotus'' fungi have also been used in

mycoremediation Mycoremediation (from ancient Greek ''μύκης (mukēs)'', meaning "fungus" and the suffix ''-remedium'', in Latin meaning 'restoring balance') is a form of bioremediation in which fungi-based remediation methods are used to decontaminate the e ...

of pollutants, such as

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. ...

Etymology

The genus name ''Pleurotus'' literally means ''side ear'' in reference to the mushroom caps being laterally attached to the substrate. It is a composite of the Ancient Greek words : pleurá - ''side'', and the stem ''-oto'' referring to ears (from , ὠτός : ''ear'').

Description

The caps may be laterally attached (with no stipe). If there is a stipe, it is normally eccentric and the gills are

decurrent ''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward. In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...

along it. The term '' pleurotoid'' is used for any mushroom with this general shape. The spores are smooth and elongated (described as "cylindrical"). Where hyphae meet, they are joined by

clamp connection A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of Basidiomycetes fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), rec ...

s. ''Pleurotus'' is not considered to be a

bracket fungus A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

, and most of the species are

monomitic A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

(with a soft consistency). However, remarkably, '' Pleurotus dryinus'' can sometimes be dimitic, meaning that it has additional skeletal hyphae, which give it a tougher consistency like bracket fungi.

Ecology

''Pleurotus'' fungi are found in both

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

climates throughout the world. Most species of ''Pleurotus'' are white-rot fungi on hardwood trees, although some also decay conifer wood. '' Pleurotus eryngii'' is unusual in being a weak parasite of

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials. Definition ...

s, and ''P. tuber-regium'' produces underground

sclerotia A sclerotium (; (), is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favor ...

. In addition to being

saprotroph Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ( ...

ic, all species of ''Pleurotus'' are also nematophagous, catching nematodes by paralyzing them with a toxin.

Cuisine

Oyster mushrooms are popular for cooking, torn up instead of sliced, especially in stir fry or sauté, because they are consistently thin, and so will cook more evenly than uncut mushrooms of other types. They are often used in

vegetarian cuisine Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products (such as gelatin or animal-derived rennet). Lacto-ovo vegetarianism (the most common type of vegetarianism in the Western wo ...

Taxonomy

The classification of species within the genus ''Pleurotus'' is difficult due to high

phenotypic In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

variability across wide geographic ranges, geographic overlap of species, and ongoing evolution and speciation. Early taxonomic efforts placed the oyster mushrooms within a very broad ''

Agaricus ''Agaricus'' is a genus of mushrooms containing both edible and poisonous species, with over 400 members worldwide and possibly again as many disputed or newly-discovered species. The genus includes the common ("button") mushroom ('' Agaricus bi ...

'' as ''Agaricus ostreatus'' ( Jacq. 1774).

Paul Kummer Paul Kummer (22 August 1834 – 6 December 1912) was a minister, teacher, and scientist in Zerbst, Germany, known chiefly for his contribution to mycological nomenclature. Earlier classification of agarics by pioneering fungal taxonomist Elias Ma ...

defined the genus ''Pleurotus'' in 1871; since then, the genus has been narrowed with some species reclassified to other genera, such as '' Favolaschia'', '' Hohenbuehelia'', ''

Lentinus ''Lentinus'' is a genus of fungi in the family Polyporaceae. The genus is widely distributed, with many species found in subtropical regions. The genus name ''Lentinus'' is derived from the Latin ''lent'', meaning "pliable", and ''inus'', meani ...

'', '' Marasmiellus'', ''

Omphalotus ''Omphalotus'' is a genus of basidiomycete mushroom, in the family Marasmiaceae, formally circumscribed by Victor Fayod in 1889. Members have the traditional cap and stem structure. They are saprobic, and fruit in clumps on the ground, adjac ...

'', '' Panellus'', '' Pleurocybella'', and '' Resupinatus''. See Singer (1986) for an example of ''Pleurotus''

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

based on morphological characteristics.

Phylogeny

More recently, molecular

phylogenetics In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

has been utilized to determine genetic and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

ary relationships between groups within the genus, delineating discrete clades. ''Pleurotus'', along with the closely related genus '' Hohenbuehelia'', has been shown to be monophyletic. Tests of cross-breeding viability between groups have been used to further define which groups are deserving of

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

rank, as opposed to subspecies,

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, or

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

. If two groups of morphologically distinct ''Pleurotus'' fungi are able to

cross-breed A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

and produce fertile offspring, they meet one definition of

. These reproductively discrete groups, referred to as intersterility groups, have begun to be defined in ''Pleurotus''. Many binomial names used in literature are now being grouped together as

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

es using this technique, and may change.

Phylogenetic species

The following species list is organized according to 1. phylogenetic clade, 2. intersterility group (group number in Roman numerals) or sub-clade, and then 3. any older binomial names that have been found to be closely related, reproductively compatible, or synonymous, although they may no longer be taxonomically valid. This list is likely to be incomplete. Pleurotus populinus 13996

* ''P. ostreatus'' clade ** I. '' P. ostreatus'' (oyster or pearl oyster mushroom) – North America and northern Eurasia *** '' P. florida'' ** II. '' P. pulmonarius'' (phoenix or Indian oyster mushroom) – North America, Eurasia, and Australasia *** '' P. columbinus'' *** '' P. sapidus'' ** III. '' P. populinus'' – North America ** VI. '' P. eryngii'' (king oyster mushroom) – Europe and the Middle East *** '' P. ferulae'' *** '' P. fossulatus'' – Afghanistan *** '' P. nebrodensis'' ** XII. '' P. abieticola'' – Asia ** XIII. '' P. albidus'' – Caribbean, Central America, South America *''P. djamor-cornucopiae'' clade Spanish-mushrooms

** IV. '' P. cornucopiae'' (branched oyster mushroom) – Europe *** '' P. citrinopileatus'' (golden oyster mushroom) – eastern Asia *** '' P. euosmus'' (tarragon oyster mushroom) ** V. '' P. djamor'' (pink oyster mushroom) – pantropical *** '' P. flabellatus'' *** '' P. salmoneo-stramineus'' *** '' P. salmonicolor'' ** XI. '' P. opuntiae'' – North America, New Zealand ** XVI. '' P. calyptratus'' * ''P. cystidiosus'' clade Limonenseitlinge (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) - 20100828

Limonenseitlinge (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) - 20100828

** VII. '' P. cystidiosus'' (abalone mushroom) – global *** '' P. abalonus'' – Taiwan *** '' P. fuscosquamulosus'' – Africa, Europe *** '' P. smithii'' – Mexico ** IX. '' P. dryinus'' – North America, Europe, and New Zealand * VIII. '' Lentinus levis'' – subtropical to tropical, moved to genus ''Lentinus''. * X. '' P. tuber-regium'' (king tuber mushroom) – Africa, Asia, Australasia * XIV. '' P. australis'' (brown oyster mushroom) – Australia and New Zealand * XV. '' P. purpureo-olivaceus'' – Australia and New Zealand ** '' P. rattenburyi''

''
Incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...
'' species

* '' P. parsonsii'' * '' P. velatus''

Former species

* '' P. gardneri'' was reclassified to the genus '' Neonothopanus'' in 2011. * '' P. levis'' was reclassified to the genus ''

''. * '' P. sajor-caju'' was reclassified to the genus ''

''. * '' P. nidiformis'' was reclassified to the genus ''

'' in 1994.

References

External links

* *
Pleurotus Genus
on the ''Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming'' site

at MushroomExpert.com * {{Taxonbar, from=Q852065 Pleurotaceae Carnivorous fungi Agaricales genera Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries Bioluminescent fungi