GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

Introduction: Few mushrooms are as spectacular
as this one. Its brilliant yellow color astonishes
all who first see it. This species forms
clusters hosting a high number of individual
mushrooms, whose stems often diverge from a
single base. Its extreme fragility post harvest
limits its distribution to far away markets.
Spicy and bitter at first, this mushroom imparts
a strong nutty flavor upon thorough cooking.
Pleurotus citrinopileatus grows quickly
through pasteurized straw and sterilized sawdust,
and thrives at high temperatures.
Common Names: The Golden Oyster
Mushroom
Ii' mak (Soviet Far East
term for elm mushroom)
Pleurotus citrinopileatus Singer
GROWTH PARAMETERS 285
Taxonomic Synonyms & Considerations:
Pleurotus citrinopileatus is closely allied to
Pleurotus cornucopiae (Paulet) Roll. and is of- Figure 257. P citrinopileatus mycelium 5 days after
ten considered a variety of it. Moser (1978) and inoculation onto malt extract agar medium.
Singer (1986) described P cornucopiae var.
cornucopiae as having a tawny brown cap whereas P citrinopileatus has an unmistakably brilliant
yellow pileus.
Singer (1986) separated P citrinopileatus Singer from P cornucopiae (Paulet ex Fr.) Rolland
sensu Kuhn. & Rom. (= P macropus BagI.) on the basis of the arrangement of the contextual hyphae.
According to SingerP citrinopileatus has monomitic hyphae whereas P cornucopiae has dimitic hyphae,
a designation that has caused considerable confusion since he used this feature as a delineating,
sub-generic distinction.* Upon more careful examination, Parmatso (1987) found that the context
was distinctly dimitic, especially evident in the flesh at the stem base. This observation concurs with
Watling & Gregory's (1989) microscopic observations of P cornucopiae.
Hongo (1976) describes the Golden Oyster mushroom as a variety ofF cornucopiae, i.e. Pleurotus
cornucopiae (Paulet ex Fries) Rolland var. citrinopileatus Singer. Petersen's (1993) interfertility
studies showed a culture of P citrinopileatus from China was indeed sexually compatible with P
cornucopiae from Europe. From my own experiences, the golden color of P citrinopileatus can be
* Singer first collect P citrinopileatus when fleeing German forces during World War II. He traveled east, acrossAsia,
and during his travels found the Golden Oyster mushroom. Dried samples were brought to the United States for study
years later. This contradiction in the arrangement of the contextual hyphae may simply be a result of poor specimen
quality. Contextual hyphae is more easily compared from tissue originating near the stem base than from the cap.
Hence, such confusion is not uncommon when examining old and tattered herbarium specimens.
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