Today we feature Turkey Tail Fungi!
The proper name includes “versicolor” which means many colors, as at full maturity it looks like a Wild Turkey’s tail feathers. This stalkless mushroom will grow in groups and tends to grow in concentric half circles, some of them growing algae on them, hence the green parts.
Will most often grow on stumps of deciduous trees, and is pretty common in North America. Considered inedible to humans, but is eaten by fungus moth caterpillars maggots of the Platypezid fly and the fungus gnat.
Polysaccharide K has been extracted from these fungi and has been used in successful cancer treatments.
