Turkey tail

Turkey tail is not poisonous, but its leathery flesh is far too tough to eat as food. In East Asia it is dried and simmered for a long time as a traditional preparation.

It grows on dead hardwood stumps and branches in almost any forest. GBIF and iNaturalist records come mostly from the northern forests of İstanbul, Thrace and the western Black Sea.

Flip the cap: turkey tail has a white underside with tiny pores. Look-alikes such as hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum) have a smooth underside with no pores.

Because it is tough and long-lived it can be found all year, but fresh, brightly banded brackets appear mostly after autumn and winter rain.

Turkey tail has a long traditional use in East Asia and its polysaccharides are being researched. It is not proven to treat any disease; talk to a doctor before using it.

Its fan-shaped caps, banded in brown, grey and cream, look like the spread tail of a wild turkey, hence the name.

Besides the false turkey tail (Stereum), the hairy curtain crust and some small brackets such as Trichaptum species look similar. Turkey tail has tiny pores underneath; the look-alikes have a smooth underside or teeth. We turn the bracket over before naming it.

False turkey tail usually means the hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum) or a similar crust fungus. It is not known as a dangerous mushroom, but it is tough and leathery and nobody eats it. We tell the two apart by the underside: false turkey tail is smooth, while turkey tail has tiny pores.

In our calendar, turkey tail is recorded all year. Turkey tail is tough and long-lived, so it can be seen all year; Turkish GBIF records cluster between October and March.

Turkey tail grows on dead hardwood, above all oak, beech and hornbeam, and only rarely on conifers; it decomposes wood and causes a white rot.

In Turkey, turkey tail records come mostly from the northern forests of İstanbul, Thrace and the western Black Sea (Bolu, Sakarya), and it can turn up in almost any wooded region.

Turkey tail can be confused with hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum, inedible), hairy bracket (Trametes hirsuta, inedible), violet-toothed polypore (Trichaptum biforme, inedible) and split gill (Schizophyllum commune, inedible). Look-alikes are compared on this page.

In Turkish, turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) is called Hindi kuyruğu; other local names include alacalı kav and çok renkli kav mantarı.