once i realized turkey tails grow all over the place and that they have awesome anti cancer properties etc. i promptly gathered a enough to make some tea for myself.


http://i44.tinypic.com/kb599t.jpg

this is a scan of todays haul

http://i44.tinypic.com/2wqr3ug.jpg

these are some older ones i found w/ a slightly rotted underside but otherwise fine

http://i44.tinypic.com/339ssih.jpg

these are the best specimens i found in that the underside is just like described on all the mushroom id'ing sites in addition to all the visible characteristics.


do you guys think these are turkey tails? and i heard somewhere that even the look alikes aren't toxic; is this true?

the first picture definitely looks like turkey tail; the other 2 are a little more ambiguous.

the underside of turkey tail is covered in tiny holes. 'false turkey tails' have a smooth underside.

they certainly do make a yummy medicinal tea

well i'm sure the smaller ones are just smaller versions of the big ones. does it matter that the big ones have the bottom spore bearing part slightly rotted off?

When hunting turkey tails, I only pick the most prime specimens. Anything rotted I wouldn't use, personally.

A general rule of thumb when using mushrooms gathered from the wild, never ingest without being absolutely 100% positive and double checking.

To me those look like turkey tails. The false turkey tails are indeed non toxic and are also equally as medicinal, and can be used in the same way. I wouldn't go so far as to say all look a likes are non toxic, as I do not know for sure. Just pick the ones you are 100% about and you won't have any problems

i know for sure look alikes a definatly non toxic, even if they dont look alike at all, thats because there are no known toxic woody shelf mushrooms (turkey tails fall into this catagory)
so if you see some shrooms and they look like they could be a turkey they probably are and if they are not, then i makes no difference...just dont mis id it so bad that you mistake something that is not even in the woody shelf family!...ps dont use any mushroom that shows any signs of rotting etc. even if you correctly id a medicinal or choice edible if its old it could get you very ill

thank you so much mr. wiggle. i got the prime specimens boiling right now. i'm also going to add some pine needles around the end of the boil and let it come to room temp. this is going to be super healthy.

i went picking for some wild edibles today and only found a new patch of what i believe to be some more turkey tails. i only say "what i believe to be" turkey tails b/c the underside doesn't EXACTLY look like this

http://upload.wikimedia....rametes_versicolor_3.jpg

and they more look like the polypore underside referred to as "teeth" in this link

http://www.mushroom-appr.../identify-mushrooms.html

but some really short teeth that really resemble the underside of turkey tails from what i can see online. does anyone know of a look alike that has a "teeth"-y underside or if this is normal? b/c i can't find it