Turkeytail Trametes versicolor

A common fan-shaped bracket fungus with concentric rings of varying colours, though typically brown, greys and creams, and grows on either dead or living wood.

Conservation status in Norfolk

A common and widespread species.

Click to see the Biodiversity Action Plan Species for this species

How to help

Allowing dead wood to remain standing or creating log piles of dead wood will not only benefit many species of fungi, including turkeytail, but will also create good habitat for many invertebrates.

Adopt me today and help ensure my future!

Tony Leech

Information on the Turkeytail

How to recognise

Turkeytail is a fan-shaped bracket fungus that has concentric rings of different colours on the surface. The rings are usually browns, buffs, greys and creams but they can be other colours such as red-browns, oranges and maroons. The surface is velvety on young growth but it becomes smoother as the fruiting body ages. The underside is greyish-white. The 'fans' form in layers and are only 1 – 3 millimetres thick.

Where to see

Turkeytail can be found in a variety of habitats including broadleaved and coniferous woodlands, parks and heathlands. It grows on living and dead wood – including cut and fallen logs or branches and is especially common on cut stumps of birch. Good places to see turkeytail are Beeston Common, Kelling Heath Holiday Park and the woodlands attached to the National Trust properties of Blickling and Felbrigg Halls. It has also been recorded at the NWT reserve Thompson Common.

When to see

They can be found all year round.

Did you know?

Turkeytail is reputed to have strong natural immune properties and is currently being tested as a possible treatment for various ailments including cancers and tumours.
Turkeytail, like other fungi which grow on dead wood, are a crucial part of nature’s recycling systems and help recycle dead wood into nutrients which can benefit the soil and other living creatures.

Finding out more

Fungus.org.uk

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