Edible
Oyster Mushroom
Pleurotus ostreatus
Oyster mushrooms are thicker and fleshier, white to gray or tan, and grow mostly on hardwoods.
Angel Wings
Pleurocybella porrigens
Toxic lookalike
Also called angel's wings.
Angel wings is a thin, pure white, fan-shaped mushroom that grows in overlapping groups on rotting conifer logs, especially hemlock. Once listed as edible, it was linked to a 2004 outbreak of fatal brain illness in Japan, mostly among people with kidney disease.
The tell
Thin, pure white, fan-shaped caps in overlapping groups on dead conifer wood.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Fan- to ear-shaped and thin, white, smooth to finely hairy near the point of attachment, with an inrolled edge when young.
- Underside
- True gills, white to cream, narrow and crowded, radiating from the point of attachment.
- Stem
- Absent, or a tiny stub at the point of attachment.
- Flesh
- Very thin, white and pliable. Smell is not distinctive.
- Spore print
- White.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 4 inches wide (2.5 to 10 cm); no stem.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Conifer and mixed forests, especially older forests.
- Grows on
- Rotting conifer logs and stumps, especially hemlock.
- Season
- Late summer to fall.
- Range
- Northern and western North America, including the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes region and the Northeast.
Lookalikes
What the angel wings gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
EdibleLate Fall Oyster
Sarcomyxa serotina
Greenish to olive-brown, with a gelatinous layer under the cap skin and yellowish gills.
Crepidotus species
Small white to brownish shelf mushrooms on wood whose gills turn brown with age; they give a brown spore print instead of white.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Toxic lookalike
Older North American field guides listed angel wings as edible. In 2004 eating it was linked to an outbreak of acute encephalopathy, a brain illness, in Japan that killed more than a dozen people, most with chronic kidney disease. Current guides list it as poisonous. The responsible compound has not been confirmed.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the angel wings
Are angel wings mushrooms poisonous?
Current field guides list Pleurocybella porrigens as poisonous. In 2004 it was linked to an outbreak of acute encephalopathy in Japan that killed more than a dozen people, most with kidney disease. Older guides listed it as edible.
How do you tell angel wings from oyster mushrooms?
Angel wings are pure white, thin and small, usually under 4 inches, and grow on rotting conifer wood, especially hemlock. Oyster mushrooms are thicker and fleshier, often gray or tan, and grow mostly on hardwoods.
Where do angel wings grow?
In overlapping groups on rotting conifer logs and stumps, especially hemlock, from late summer to fall. They are found in northern and western North America, including the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and the Northeast.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Pleurocybella porrigens
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
- Pleurocybella porrigens
Beaty Biodiversity Museum, University of British Columbia
- Pleurocybella porrigens
Index Fungorum
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