Pleurotus nebrodensis
Description
Pleurotus nebrodensis is a fungus that was declared by the IUCN as critically endangered in 2006. This fungus only grows on limestone in northern Sicily in association with Cachrys ferulacea (family Apiaceae). Its fruit body is white as snow and plump while its flesh is slender and slippery. It has high edible worth and is abundant in manifold nutrition including sub-oleic acid, non-saturation fatty acid, amylose amino acid and many microelements such as calcium, zinc and manganese. Based on high drug worth, it could be used to prevent and cure aged painstaking effort canal disease, rickets, gibbsite and loosen bone disease of enfant It could be applied to prevent and contradict cancers for its plenty fungal amylose. The mushroom could be sold in fresh form or cans sliced up and dried.
Pleurotus nebrodensis has been considered as a hard-to-grow mushroom within cultivation circles. It is critically endangered in the wild and relies on experimentation to grow as a cultivated mushroom.
Common names: Bailin Oyster, White Elf, Funciu Di Basilicu.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
Up to 14.5 cm in diameter, convex, flattened, later indented and funnel-shaped, usually evenly colored, cream. The edge is turned up or raised.
Flesh
Cream-colored, dense or hard, with a faint floury taste, becomes sulfur-yellow when dried.
Hymenophore
Lamellar, frequent plates, almost free from the leg, initially white or yellowish, pink with age.
Stem
2.1-7.5 cm long and 1.4-3 cm thick, usually eccentric, club-shaped, smooth, light cream, wavy. The ring is missing.
Spores
12.5-18 × 5.2-6.1 μm, bean-shaped, smooth, unpainted. Basidia four-spore, 40-50 × 10-14 microns. The hyphae system is monomitic, hyphae with buckles.
Spore Print
Cream or light cream color.
History
The first record of the mushroom was in 1866 by Italian botanist Giuseppe Inzenga, who named it Agaricus nembrodensis; it was described as "the most delicious mushroom of the Sicilian mycological flora". This was widely agreed upon, which has led to widespread cultivation, by professionals and amateurs. In 1886, French mycologist Lucien Quélet transferred the species to the genus Pleurotus. Recent research has shown that P. nebrodensis is closely related to, but unique from, Pleurotus eryngii, which also occurs in the Mediterranean Basin and is associated with plants in the family Apiaceae.
Pleurotus nebrodensis Conservation
These fungi that are cultivated for conservation are produced in tunnels that are covered by black nets. These cultivated fungi have the same flavor and aroma as the wild specimens.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: tripsis (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 2 - Author: user:tripsis (CC BY-SA 3.0)
