Inedible
False Turkey Tail
Stereum ostrea
Has a smooth underside with no pores at all, usually brown to orange-tan.
Turkey Tail
Trametes versicolor
Inedible, used in teas
Also called many-zoned polypore.
Turkey tail is a thin, leathery bracket fungus with bands of brown, tan, gray, blue and rust, like a fanned turkey's tail. It grows in overlapping rosettes on dead hardwood all year. It is too tough to eat and is brewed as a tea.
The tell
Thin, velvety, multicolored banded brackets with a white underside of tiny pores.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Thin, flexible, fan- to semicircular brackets in overlapping clusters or rosettes. Velvety to hairy, with sharply contrasting concentric bands of brown, tan, gray, blue, green or rust and a pale outer edge.
- Underside
- White to cream pore surface with tiny pores, about 3 to 5 per millimeter, visible with a hand lens.
- Stem
- None. Brackets attach directly to the wood.
- Flesh
- Thin, white, tough and leathery.
- Spore print
- White.
- Size
- Each bracket 1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10 cm) wide and about 1/16 inch (1 to 3 mm) thick.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Woods, parks and yards, on dead logs, stumps and fallen branches.
- Grows on
- Dead hardwood, occasionally conifers.
- Season
- Year-round; fresh growth most visible in wet weather.
- Range
- Across North America; one of the most common bracket fungi on the continent.
Lookalikes
What the turkey tail gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Violet-toothed polypore (Trichaptum biforme)
Grayish top and a violet to purplish underside of jagged, tooth-like pores.
Hairy turkey tail (Trametes hirsuta)
Grayer and much hairier, with duller zones and a thicker bracket.
Gilled polypore (Trametes betulina)
A zoned, hairy bracket with gill-like plates on the underside instead of pores.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Inedible, used in teas
Field guides list turkey tail as inedible because it is tough and leathery. It is dried and simmered in water as a tea, and turkey tail extracts are sold as supplements. It is not known to be toxic.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the turkey tail
What is turkey tail mushroom used for?
It is dried and simmered as a tea, and extracts are sold as supplements. It is not eaten as a food because the brackets are thin and leathery.
How do you tell turkey tail from false turkey tail?
On a real turkey tail, the white underside is covered in tiny pores that a hand lens shows clearly. False turkey tail has a smooth underside with no pores.
Where does turkey tail grow?
On dead hardwood logs, stumps and branches in woods, parks and yards across North America. It grows and persists year-round.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Trametes versicolor
MushroomExpert.com
- Trametes versicolor
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
- Turkey Tail Mushroom
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Trametes versicolor
Index Fungorum
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