Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc.
Sebastopol, CA
www.mycopia.com

The Definitive Guide to Mushroom Nomenclature


Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc. has been concerned in recent years over the misnaming of mushrooms in markets, cookbooks, menus and web sites. In an effort to bring order back to this chaotic situation we are making this guide available to food writers and editors, chefs, restaurateurs and produce brokers.

Mushroom nomenclature needs to be rescued from its current state of disorder. Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc., a pioneer in the field of cultivated mushrooms, has perhaps unwittingly added to the confusion by creating distinctive names for its cultivars. We continue to feel that our mushrooms deserve differentiation, because they each have readily identifiable unique characteristics.

Mushroom lore thrives on regional and idiosyncratic names. Even mycologists (scientists who study mushrooms) are sometimes unclear about their names, shifting mushrooms from one genus to another, or deciding that two previously identified species are really just manifestations of one. One needs a little Latin, a little Japanese and a lot of patience to talk about mushrooms.

We have no objection to one mushroom having many names. What we seek to avoid is referring to different mushrooms by the same name when one is correct and the other is not.


Below you will find a listing of exotic cultivated mushrooms, beginning in each case with their scientific names and followed by widely accepted alternates. Gourmet Mushroom, Inc.’s trademarked names are in bold.

Agrocybe aegerita
Pioppini. Velvet Pioppini™, Pioparelli, Black Poplar Mushroom Piopino, Chestnut Mushroom (Sometimes misnamed, even in Italy, as chiodini which is Armillaria mellea, the honey mushroom)

Grifola frondosa
Maitake, Hen-of-the-Woods (Not related in any way to Chicken-of-the-Woods – which is Laetiporus sulphureus.)


Hericium erinaceus
Lion’s Mane. Pom Pon Blanc™, Pom Pom Blanc, Bear’s Head. Old Man’s Beard. Monkey’s Head

Hypsizygus tessulatus (or sometimes Hypsizygus marmoreus)
Honshimeji, Buna-shimeji. Alba Clamshell™. Brown Clamshell™. Beech Mushroom. (Hon-shimeji is still a very common for this mushroom even in Japan. Buna-shimeji is considered correct and preferred in Japan.)

Lepista nuda (also Clitocybe nuda)
Blewit. Bluefoot. Ped Blau. Pied Bleu

Pholiota nameko
Nameko. Forest Nameko™. Butterscotch mushroom. Sometimes called Cinnamon Cap or Cinnamon Nameko. The nameko species can always be identified by its glossy cap. People sometimes call this a honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea) based solely on appearance, another incorrect usage.

Pholiota sp.
Cinnamon Cap™ The Cinnamon Cap variety always has a dry cap, often speckled with white flakes.

Pluerotus eryngii
King Oyster. Trumpet Royale™. French Horn. Gambone. Royal Trumpet. Eryngi.

Pluerotus nebrodensis
Nebrodini Bianco™, Bai Ling Gui (Sometimes called Abalone mushroom. This is incorrect. The Abalone is Pleurotus abalonius. And that’s no baloney!)

Pleurotus ostreatus
Oyster Mushroom. Baby Oyster Cluster™. Pleurotte. Hiratake. Baby Oyster. Baby Blue Oyster™. In the old nomenclature shimeji was often used by itself in Japan as shorthand to designate this mushroom. Hiratake is now considered to be correct, but the use of shimeji continues. There are a number of colored oyster mushrooms, all of the Pleurotus species, but often not Pleurotus ostreatus.

Two excellent web resources for accurate information about mushrooms are www.mushroomexpert.com and www.tomvolkfungi.net.

For further information please contact the author Bob Engel, Gourmet Mushroom’s Chef Liaison -- bob@mycopia.com.