Oyster mushroom

Statema, B. C. P.

Fungus

Oyster mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus

Known today as: A shell-shaped mushroom of dead hardwood.
Kind: Fungus
Constituents: lovastatin, ostreolysin
In other databases: GBIF search · Wikidata search

Oyster mushroom: what was it used for?

A common food, easily cultivated on straw and waste.

Oyster mushroom: what does modern science say?

Contains small amounts of lovastatin.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

lovastatin ChEMBLin small amounts
ostreolysina pore-forming protein, destroyed by cooking

Mechanism

The mushroom holds lovastatin and lowers cholesterol in animals; its spores cause an occupational lung disease in growers.

Checked against ChEMBL

lovastatin: ChEMBL’s curated mechanism: inhibitor 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase.

Toxic dose

None from the cooked food.

Standing

A food.

Gunde-Cimerman, N., and Cimerman, A. (1995). “Pleurotus fruiting bodies contain the inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, lovastatin.” Experimental Mycology 19. Verified against its record · doi:10.1006/emyc.1995.1001

The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Oyster mushroom: what lore surrounds it?

A carnivore: it paralyzes and digests tiny roundworms to feed on their nitrogen.

In Their Own Words

M. C. Cooke notes that the Oyster (A. ostreatus) grows on trees late in autumn and is held by many to be excellent food.

“Late in the autumn the Oyster (A. ostreatus) may be found growing on trees. But, whilst in the animal world the oyster that groweth upon trees is considered as degenerate and unfit for becoming the food of man, in the vegetable world the tree-loving oyster is held by many to be excellent food.”

M. C. Cooke, A Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi, Esculent agarics: the Oyster. London: Robert Hardwicke, 192, Piccadilly, 1862 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part

Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.

Sources

Thorn, R. G., & Barron, G. L. (1984). Carnivorous mushrooms. Science 224: 76–78. Verified against its record · doi:10.1126/science.224.4644.76

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
The mechanism read against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37): curated mechanisms and measured activity

Sources

2 cited: 2 verified against its record. 2 with the abstract on file.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026

Chicago: “Oyster mushroom.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/oyster-mushroom.
MLA: “Oyster mushroom.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/oyster-mushroom. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Oyster mushroom. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/oyster-mushroom

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