Monday’s Mushrooms. #8

PLEASE NOTE: This post is intended for sharing fun and interesting facts on mushrooms. It is NOT INTENDED to be used as a guide for identifying edible mushrooms!

Greetings everyone! It is cold today once more, it was only 10F (-12C) this morning with a strong north wind. It really felt like winter had returned. It is only going up to 20F (-6C) for a high today as well, then getting even colder tonight than it was last night! Plus we might be getting more snow tomorrow night. Oh well, spring is coming, sometime, at some point.

Anyway, today we are talking about mushrooms again and more specifically, the Turkey-Tail Polypore. There are several varieties and look-a-likes for this mushroom. The color for this one can vary quite a lot, from a darker brown, to light brown, reddish brown, cinnamon, orange and even blue or green.

Generally they will be found on decaying wood of dead hardwood trees, logs, stumps and branches. They can be found anywhere from June to late fall and will even survive the winter and continue growing the following year. They can be found singly or in “shelves” like in my picture. They are fan shaped, from 1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10cm) wide with wavy edges.

They are velvety hairy and dry, they are thin and tough but can be quite flexible when they are fresh. It is a very variable mushroom. These mushrooms are tough and INEDIBLE. Interestingly they are being studied for possible anti-cancer properties. Well, that is all for today, hope you enjoyed this one, have a great day and God bless!

Steve. ©2026 Steve McLeod.