Veiled+Oyster

// Pleurotus dryinus // This plant is a decomposer. Herbivores prey on this plant and it is nontoxic. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/pleurotus_dryinus.html     
 * Veiled Oysters **
 * Description: ** It can be described as growing alone or in small clusters on dead and living wood of hardwoods (especially oaks and beech); summer and fall (winter in coastal California); widely distributed in North America. The cap is 4-12 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex. It is circular in outline and hairy. It is whitish beneath the grayish to pale brownish hairs, often yellowing with age. The margin is inrolled when young, hung with partial veil remnants. The gills run down the stem and are close and whitish, yellowing with age. The stem is 4-10 cm long and grows up to 3.5 cm thick. It is tough and usually a little off-center. The lower portion contains a densely fuzzy sheath that terminates in an ephemeral ring. Above the ring smooth ridges resulting from the gills are whitish; yellowing with age. The flesh is thick, tough, and whitish.
 * Habitat & Range: ** Found in Massachusetts and begins growing below the ground but is visible. This type of mushroom is edible and nontoxic. It can be found with plants and trees and grows in soil or grass. This mushroom represents a small part of the fungus organism. 90% of this mushroom (fungus) grows below the ground.
 * Adaptations and Behavior: **
 * Ecological Interactions: ** It turns the other plants and trees into soil. Without these mushrooms and decomposers the world would be thick with trees and there would be a lot of dead people.
 * Author: ** Nick Giannino
 * Sources: **