Identifying Turkey Tail Mushrooms, or Trametes versicolor can be more difficult than expected, but these few tips will help you decide if your Turkey Tail is indeed what you think it is.
Turkey Tail mushrooms are one of the most common mushrooms in the woods. You have more than likely seen them growing on fallen trees and stumps in the forest, even if you are not actively looking. While weve all seen them, there are also plenty of look-a-likes and their colors can be widely variable, so you really need to turn your attention to the details to make sure that what you have is not an imposter.
Turkey tail mushrooms are one of the most common mushroom species found throughout North America. Their distinctive colors and fan-like shape make them easy to spot in the woods. But there are a few key features to look for when identifying true turkey tails. Here is a complete visual guide to turkey tail mushroom identification.
The Origin of the Name
Turkey tail mushrooms get their common name from their resemblance to the tail feathers of wild turkeys The caps have a similar size, texture, and multicolored pattern as the feathers Early American colonists first coined the name “turkey tail” when they noticed the similarity. The colors, bands, and fan-like shape create an uncanny similarity to the tail of a strutting turkey.
Color Variations
The tops of turkey tail caps can display a wide range of colors including shades of brown, black, gray, blue, orange, red, yellow, and white. The most distinctive feature is the concentric bands of differing hues that form rings over the top surface. The margins are often whitish or pale yellow.
While the caps come in varied shades, the underside pores are more uniform. They tend to be small and angular, with a whitish to pale yellow color.
Textures and Sizes
Turkey tail mushrooms have a leathery, suede-like texture. The caps feel flexible yet tough if bent or twisted. When fresh, they have a velvety feel. As they age, they become more brittle and wooly.
Caps can range in size from 1-4 inches across. They often grow in dense overlapping clusters on decaying logs. The caps may be flattened, round, or semicircular depending on their position in the cluster.
A Fan-Like Shape
The caps of turkey tail mushrooms have a distinctive fan or half-circle shape. They attach directly to the log without a stem. The caps often form tiers stacked on top of each other as they proliferate. Their spread out, fan-like form helps distinguish them from lookalikes.
Growing on Dead Wood
Turkey tail mushrooms thrive on dead wood. Look for them growing on fallen logs, stumps, branches and wood debris in the forest. They form shelf-like fruiting bodies that creep across the surface of the decaying wood.
The mushrooms help decompose lignin and cellulose, returning nutrients to the ecosystem. Their presence on a log or stump often indicates the decomposition process is underway.
Pores Not Gills
Check the underside of the mushroom cap to observe the pores. Mushrooms in the polypore family will have tiny angular pores instead of gills. The pores on turkey tails will be tiny and whitish or yellowish.
If you see gills rather than pores, it is not a true turkey tail Mushrooms with gills belong to a different family.
Spore Print
To confirm identification, a spore print can be taken. Place the cap pore-side down on a piece of white or black paper. After 12-24 hours, the color of the spore deposit can be observed. A turkey tail mushroom will leave a white spore print.
Absence of Algae
Turkey tail caps do not host algae growth. If you see any green or black algae spots on the cap, it is likely a different mushroom species. True turkey tails remain free of algal growth.
Lookalikes
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Stereum ostrea is known as “false turkey tail” for its resemblance. But it has a smooth underside rather than pores.
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Trichaptum biforme has purple hues and teeth underneath rather than pores.
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The many-zoned polypore has a similar color pattern but lacks the leathery texture of turkey tails.
With so many lookalikes, it helps to inspect several characteristics before making a positive ID. Remember to check the shape, cap texture, pore surface, and colors to discern true turkey tails.
Edibility and Uses
While turkey tail mushrooms are too tough to eat, they have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Modern research indicates they may help strengthen the immune system and have anti-inflammatory properties.
Turkey tail caps can be dried and used to make medicinal teas and extracts. Always be 100% certain of identification before consuming any wild mushroom.
Where to Find Them
Turkey tail mushrooms grow on dead logs and stumps worldwide. They are native to North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. In some areas they fruit prolifically from spring through winter.
To find them, walk through the woods scanning fallen trees and cut stumps. Look for colorful caps in shades of tan, brown, gray, blue, orange and rust. Check for fine pores on the underside and a leathery, flexible texture. With practice, identification becomes quick and certain.
Adding turkey tail mushrooms to your foraging repertoire will open up a new world of fungi. You’ll start noticing them on almost every fallen log and tree. Getting to know this beautiful polypore offers fun adventures in mushroom identification and new uses for natural medicine.
How to use Turkey Tail
Now, are they good to eat? Heck no. But they do make a medicinal tea and inoculated logs can make a long lasting, fabulous landscape piece. We trialed many strains of Turkey Tail and the strain we landed on usually fruits within the same year of inoculation. If you want a consistent supply of Turkey Tail you can inoculate logs with Turkey Tail Plug Spawn. Otherwise a good hunt is a great way to get out and enjoy your natural woodlands.
Turkey Tail Identification Tips
1. The first thing you want to look for is- Are they growing on wood? Turkey Tail is first and foremost a wood-decay mushroom, so it would be unusual to find them growing on a non-wood-based substrate.
2. Do they have pores on the underside? Turkey Tail look-a-likes can have a variety of different undersides, displaying anything from smooth to gilled, to toothed. True Turkey Tail has a porous underside with approximately 1 to 3 pores per millimeter. For reference, youre looking for about 3 pores per tip of a ballpoint pen (handy tip: use a magnifying glass).
3. Do they have a silky, fuzzy top with distinct color bands? Turkey Tail will have a velvety top while some of its common look-a-likes have a smooth top.
4. Are they thin and flexible? You should be able to bend Turkey with very little effort.
If you answered yes to all of these, its more than likely a true Turkey Tail. One thing to note is that there is a lot of variability in the fungis appearance base on age, sun exposure, season, etc. If you have something you think is Turkey Tail, look at more than the first photo you come across as youll likely have some color variation.
How to Identify Turkey Tail Mushrooms ( and distinguish from false lookalikes )
FAQ
Are there any poisonous look alikes to turkey tail mushrooms?
Can you just eat turkey tail mushrooms?
How to tell if a mushroom is turkey tail?
What does turkey tail mushroom do to you?
How do you identify turkey tail mushrooms?
The first step in identifying turkey tail mushrooms is to look at their physical characteristics. Turkey tail mushrooms have fan-shaped caps that are usually less than 10 cm in diameter. The caps are thin and leathery, with a rough upper surface that is marked by concentric bands of different colors.
How many types of Turkey Tail mushrooms are there?
Turkey tail ( Trametes versicolor) mushroom identification will come in useful because it has many look-alikes that look very similar. There are 50 species of the Trametes family. The Turkey tail mushroom and it’s 2 look-alikes are the most common types of mushroom you will see when walking in the woods, foraging or hiking.
How thick is a turkey tail mushroom?
A true turkey tail mushroom is thin and flexible – even after it has been dried. It flesh is about 1 to 3 mm thick. While drying removes some of its flexibility, it will never turn hard and rigid. If you have a hard and rigid mushroom then you have another look-alike called the Trametes Ochracea.
What is a turkey tail mushroom?
The distinctive turkey tail mushroom ( Trametes versicolor ), with its striking resemblance to the fanned plumage of a wild turkey, is widely known as a medicinal mushroom. This common and beautiful mushroom grows wild across North America and is highly valued.