Medium to large agaric, growing on wood, with a white spore print. Pileus white, pale, brown, purple or grey, not viscid, margin distinctly sulcate-striate. Lamellae adnate or decurrent. Stipe lateral or absent, rarely excentric. Partial veil remnants absent. Luminous (according to Corner, 1981). Spores cylindrical (reported as ellipsoid in some studies), hyaline, non-amyloid, smooth; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia absent. Lamellar trama regular or interwoven. Context monomitic or dimitic, with thick-walled hyphae. Pileipellis a cutis or a trichoderm. Clamp connections present.

Differs from other Pleurotus by being luminous (at least in some reports) and in having branched pileipellis hyphae with occasional diverticulate outgrowths, and the absence of cheilocystidia. The very similar Omphalotus is also a large, pleurotoid agaric, and luminous, but it usually has the pileus centre quite dark at maturity, as well as cheilocystidia and thin-walled context hyphae. For other pale-spored pleurotoid agarics see under Pleurotus (other).

One species: Pleurotus eugrammus (= Nothopanus eugrammus). This species is keyed out separately because it is reported to be luminous.

Pleurotus eugrammus (Mont.) Dennis, Kew Bull. 1953: 35 (1953).

Qld (and possibly also northern W.A., N.T. and northern N.S.W.).

Not known.

On wood.

Saprotrophic.

Corner, E.J.H. (1981), The agaric genera Lentinus, Panus and Pleurotus with particular reference to Malaysian species, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 69: 1–169. [Description and Microcharacters of P. eugrammus]

Dennis, R.W.G. (1953), Some pleurotoid fungi from the West Indies, Kew Bull. 1953: 31–45. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of P. eugrammus]

Pegler, D.N. (1983c), Agaric flora of the Lesser Antilles, Kew Bull., Addit. Ser. 9: 1–668. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of P. eugrammus (as Nothopanus)]

Petersen, R.H. & Krisai-Greilhuber, I. (1999), Type specimen studies in Pleurotus, Persoonia 17: 201–219. [Description and Microcharacters of P. eugrammus]