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Turkeytail

Turkeytail ©Les Binns

Turkeytail

The turkeytail is a very colourful bracket fungus that grows throughout the year, but is at its best in the autumn. Its circular caps can be seen growing in tiers on trees and dead wood.

Scientific name

Trametes versicolor

When to see

January to December

Species information

Category

Statistics

Cap diameter: 4-10cm

Conservation status

Common.

Habitats

About

The turkeytail is a small, tough, bracket fungus that grows in tiered layers on dead wood - mainly hardwood, such as beech or oak. It is very common and can be found throughout the UK on rotting stumps and branches. Fungi belong to their own kingdom and get their nutrients and energy from organic matter, rather than photosynthesis like plants. It is often just the fruiting bodies, or 'mushrooms', that are visible to us, arising from an unseen network of tiny filaments called 'hyphae'. These fruiting bodies produce spores for reproduction, although fungi can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation.

How to identify

The turkeytail is a bracket fungus that forms semi-circular caps around tree trunks. The caps are thin and tough, with very clear, velvety, concentric rings of colour. Colours are variable mixes of brown, yellow, grey, purple, green and black, but the outer margin is always pale - either cream or white. The caps are often layered together, forming tiers.

Distribution

Widespread.

Did you know?

The turkeytail is a very colourful fungus and was once popular as a table decoration; at one time, it was even used to decorate hats!