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 are not plants or animals but 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. They can be seen all year round

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.

For centuries, people have used these mushrooms, also known as Trametes versicolor or Coriolus versicolor as a health supplement. In traditional Chinese medicine, people use turkey tail extract (Yun zhi) as a treatment for respiratory conditions

A number of studies have shown that turkey tail mushrooms have immune boosting properties. The researchers looked at studies of five types of mushrooms, including turkey tail, as complementary cancer treatments.  They concluded, “The evidence base for using mushrooms in cancer treatment has greatly increased.” turkey tail mushrooms contain compounds called polysaccharopeptide (PSP) and polysaccharide-K (PSK) which appear to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.