Trametes versicolor (L.: Fries) Pilát
Atl. Champ. Eur. 3:261. 1936.

Common Name: Turkey Tails

Synonym: Coriolus versicolor, Polyporus versicolor

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body up to 10 cm broad, bracket to shelf-like or fan-shaped, attached along one side or just near the middle of one side, the upper surface tomentose, with multicolored zones. Flesh thin, usually less than 2 mm thick, white, tough, and fibrous. The underside a white to pale yellow layer of very small tubes, vertically oriented with 3-5 pores per mm, the tube mouths more or less round.

• Spores

  Spores 4-6 x 1.5-2.5 µm, slightly curved-cylindrical (like a cooked hotdog), smooth, hyaline, white to pale yellow in deposit.

• Habitat

  Typically in rows or overlapping shelves on stumps and logs of hardwoods, from fall to spring.

• Edibility

  Too tough to try.

• Comments

  Though fruiting during the fall and winter months, shelves of the colorful Turkey Tail can be found almost any month of the year. Trametes versicolor is sometimes confused with unrelated leathery shelf fungi. Species of Stereum have orange-brown zoned caps but can be distinguished by their smooth hymenial surface. Lenzites, Daedalea, Daedaleopsis, and Gloeophyllum all have a multicolored, zonate upper surfaces, but their hymeniums are variously composed of irregular, mazelike, or elongated gill-like pores.

• References

  Bernicchia, A. (2005). Polyporaceae s.l. (Fungi Europaei). Edizioni Candusso: Alassio, Italy. 807 p.
  Bougher, N.L. & Syme, K. (1998). Fungi of Southern Australia. University of Western Australia Press: Nedlands, Australia. 391 p.
  Gilbertson, R. L. & Ryvarden, L. (1987). North American Polypores, vol. 2. Fungiflora: Oslo, Norway. 452 p.
  Overholts, L.O. (1967). The Polyporaceae of the United States, Alaska, and Canada. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MN. 466 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Brother Alfred Brousseau: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Brother Alfred Brousseau: Trametes versicolor (CP) -- cloesup of pores
  • Robert Mackler: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Taylor F. Lockwood: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Herb Saylor: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Mark Steinmetz: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Nathan Wilson: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month: Trametes versicolor (D & CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Na Grzyby: Trametes versicolor (D & CP)
  • Robert Rich: Trametes versicolor (D & CP)
  • George Barron's Fungi of Canada (East): Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Trametes versicolor (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 594 (D & P), plate 158 (CP)
  • Arora (1991): p. 197 (D & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 96 (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (v. 2): sp. 359 (D, I , & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 489 (D), plate 482
  • Miller: p.281 (D), plate 331 (CP) [Polyporus versicolor]
  • Phillips: p. 271 (D & CP)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)