# Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

**Pleurotus ostreatus**

**Known today as.** A shell-shaped mushroom of dead hardwood.

Kind: Fungus

## What was it used for?

A common food, easily cultivated on straw and waste.

## What does modern science say?

Contains small amounts of lovastatin.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **lovastatin**: in small amounts
- **ostreolysin**: a 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.

**Dose.** None from the cooked food.

**Standing.** A food.

## What lore surrounds it?

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

## Sources

- Thorn, R. G., & Barron, G. L. (1984). Carnivorous mushrooms. *Science* 224: 76–78.
- 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.

---

*Oyster mushroom.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/oyster-mushroom

Historical description, not medical advice.