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I am not certain of the exact species of this Yucca (Maybe Yucca Guatemalensis?) But there are several of these trees growing in the front yards of several homes in a co-workers neighborhood in the San Francisco peninsula area.

Recently, mushrooms started growing on the trunk near the base of a few of these yuccas, one of which is now clearly dead & the one that the mushroom pictured below was harvested from looks to be on the way out too. I would guess that the yuccas were already sick & dying if these are indeed oysters, as they are a saprotrophic mushroom.

I had never heard of oyster mushrooms growing on a yucca, nor can I find any mention of this happening through several google searches, so I am not quite sure what to think of this apparent oyster mushroom. It is fairly large (as big as my hand) and I find it a bit odd how broadly fussed together the caps are at the base.

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This is one of the mushrooms, cut from the yucca next to the trunk.

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  • I'm also concerned about how fused the caps are as well as the exceptionally wavy gills near the "stem." It is very interesting and now I'm going to have to look into this.
    – That Idiot
    Jan 19, 2016 at 21:01
  • The more I look at it, the more I think the 'fused' caps are really just a somewhat misshapen single cap, fwiw.
    – renesis
    Jan 19, 2016 at 21:08
  • If you found it growing on your yucca, doesn't that answer your question?
    – Graham Chiu
    Jan 27, 2016 at 0:01
  • @Graham Chiu - There are many look-a-likes in the world of mushrooms, including many I'm sure I don't know about. It is best to not make assumptions in mycology, and not being a mushroom expert, I would be making an assumption that it is an Oyster Mushroom of the Pleurotus genus. Definitely not something I'd want to do especially if I was planning on eating it...
    – renesis
    Jan 27, 2016 at 0:18
  • So, the question really is, what sort of mushroom is this? Did you do a spore print?
    – Graham Chiu
    Jan 27, 2016 at 1:27

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They certainly do look like Oyster's. Without seeing the stem it's hard to know for sure. A white spore print is also a good indication. I've seen many Oyster's that split off like that as well.

I did find one forum that addresses whether or not they can grow on Yukka. It seems that the major consensus is yes. https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/12812751

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  • Agreed. All of those indications are pretty good, although oysters do not always have stems & I believe this one did not either. In all likelihood it is an oyster of some sort I suppose.
    – renesis
    Feb 4, 2016 at 18:27

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