An edible, oyster-like gilled wood-decay mushroom of East Asian broadleaf forests with overlapping, ochraceous, fan-shaped caps. It was described in 2003 (as Panellus edulis) after being separated from the bitter, greener Sarcomyxa serotina, with which it had been confused. It was domesticated in China within the last decade and is now grown commercially there, mainly in the north; in Japan a plastic-greenhouse growing system has been developed.
Edible and mild-tasting; in Japan considered one of the most delicious wild mushrooms. Caution: in Japan the poisonous Omphalotus japonicus (tsukiyotake), which grows on dead beech and has gills that glow in the dark, is mistaken for mukitake, shiitake and hiratake (Kasahara et al. 1996; Sugano et al. 2022). S. serotina is bitter.
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Habitat
Saprobic on wood of broadleaf trees, especially fallen wood in remote mountain and old-growth forests. The sequenced Chinese specimen came from maple wood in Jilin Province. Rotten basswood (Tilia) is reported to be a very easy substrate for growing it.
Distribution
China (Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shanxi, Guangxi, northern Shaanxi, Sichuan), Japan and the Russian Far East (Dai et al. 2003). Tian et al. (2021) also list the United States; not confirmed by other sources read.
Characteristics
Cap: fan- or oyster-shaped, in overlapping clusters; ochraceous to ochraceous-brown (described as yellow in Chinese sources). Gills: close, ochraceous, adnate. Cystidia: ventricose (S. serotina has different hymenial cystidia). Spores: smooth, amyloid, 4.5-6 x 1-2 um, slightly longer than those of S. serotina. Taste: mild (S. serotina is very bitter). Cap size, stem and spore-print colour were not given in the sources read.
Difficulty
Intermediate
Growth speed
Slow
Substrates
Basswood (Tilia) wood, reported as an easy substrate (Liu 2020, via Wikipedia)
