Vero Beach is home to the Greenway, a 3mi. nature trail that loops through oak forests and wetlands alongside the Indian River Lagoon. While walking there Sunday, I photo-graphed an oak log totally covered in mushroom-like growths. 
When I got home, I ran straight to Google ➡ turns out I’d seen Trametes versicolor, a polypore (bracket fungus) seen mostly on sick or decaying hardwood trees. In the next photo, you’ll see why this fungi’s fruiting body is commonly called “Turkey Tail:” 
T. versicolor’s banding pattern resembles the tail of a strutting turkey! Most are dark to light brown, alternating with light colored bands of white to tan, with still more bands of blue, gray, orange or maroon. They can be strikingly beautiful, and are among the fungi most easily observed in the wild. Unlike their mushroom “cousins” that disappear quickly, Turkey Tails are leathery and long-lived, with some shelves lasting an entire year.
In addition to being a prolific fruiter, T. versicolor is found in every state of the U.S. and almost every region of the world, including Siberia. Traditional Asian medicine has long used this fungus in the fight against cancer by extracting polysaccharide K (PSK) and polysaccharide-peptide (PSP) from the fruiting bodies. Studies show both substances boost cancer patients’ immune systems when used in conjunction with traditional medicine, sometimes doubling life expectancy! Research is ongoing.
To learn more about this Thanksgiving themed fungus, visit Mushroomexpert.com.
Until next time…. 
Related articles
- Country diary: Ecclesall Woods, Sheffield: Jelly drops are only one of the treats this dead beech offers (theguardian.com)
- Woody Flowers? (forestgardenblog.wordpress.com)
- An Analysis Of Core Aspects In Epimedium Icariin (martianssay.com)
- Nature Trails Can Offer Living History Lessons (nairegion3.wordpress.com)
- Turkey tail mushroom finally being studied in U.S. after 30 years of use in cancer treatment in Japan (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
- http://nhgardensolutions.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/tales-of-turkey-tails/
11 thoughts on “Seen on the nature trail….”
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small house/BIG GARDEN 
Thank you for all that info. I always see them very often while in the woods, but never knew the name of it. Interesting also about the cancer research.
They are pretty little fans, aren’t they? At first I wondered whether the fungi had brought about the death of the tree, but I see that the poor thing was struggling before they took hold! Isn’t nature efficient? 🙂
They are much like some that I photographed on a beach last year!
This is a great educational share… very interesting… your blog had me looking at plants differently on our trip to the coastal area…
Yup, thanks for sharing ….Great pics , must look for this fungus here in my own territory out west just in case I may be ill one day..Not getting any younger 😀 ….Research got me to skin cream recipe and some internal uses also.
That’s fungus to be thankful for!
Very pretty fungus. We have a fungus similar to that growing on one of our dying Oaks. I am going to take a closer look at it. When it stops raining. I am wondering if it is still there with the couple of freezes we have had.
Hmm, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any that look this colorful. I’ll have to keep a closer eye on the next woodland walk!
Beautiful! Wow, the place where you live! …
Thank you!
I’m somewhat new to Florida (4 yrs next month!) and every day i have to pinch myself when I wake up to palm trees and nice weather! I moved here from Massachusetts where it’s grey and cold 9mos of the year so this seems like paradise to me!
Wow-turkey tails get really big there. I’m not surprised though-I’ve seen “house plants” growing in Florida that were hundreds of time bigger than the ones I had in pots!