GCA Scholar’s Innovative “Midas Mushroom” Research Captures National Spotlight

GCA-funded Botany Scholar Collaborating with University of Wisconsin-Madison and USDA Forest Service Make Ground-breaking Study of Invasive Golden Oyster Mushroom, aka “Midas Mushroom”.

October 29, 2025

By: Bernadette Tramm

Spreading like the “Midas Mushroom” does in forests, innovative research by Aishwarya Veerabahu, the 2023 GCA Fellow in Ecological Restoration, recently captured national attention in The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, and a host of other media outlets. Nicknamed for its sunny yellow color, the edible golden oyster mushroom (GOM) was imported from eastern Asia in the early 2000s and popularized with kitchen grow-your-own kits. But by 2010 it had escaped into forests, growing primarily on hardwoods as a white-rot wood decay fungus. Now it’s found in 25 midwestern and northeastern states and a Canadian province. 

A doctoral candidate in botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), Veerabahu and her UW-M and USDA Forest Service colleagues reported in Current Biology that the nutty-tasting GOM may not be such a welcome newcomer. Thought to be the first of its kind, their meticulous field study and pioneering research concludes that GOM’s presence can push aside native fungi and cause environmental harm, “just as invasive plants and animals can when they take over ecosystems.” They are modeling a cascade of potential downstream effects from this disruptive, non-native fungus and developing options for future management.

Veerabahu credits GCA for investing in her advanced research to answer public concerns over the surprising impacts of this invasive fungus. GCA collaborates with a panel of experts associated with the UW-M Arboretum to recommend candidates for the annual fellowship. Explore all 29 of GCA’s merit-based grants at gcamerica.org; applications for 2026 are open with deadlines ranging from November to early February.