Turkey tail

Trametes versicolor

Polyporaceae

Zoned fans on dead wood — the best-studied medicinal polypore for immune support beside treatment, not instead of it.

Common woodland polypore. Cultivation and foraging of the correct species are legal.

Parts used: Fruiting body
Traditional notes: Immune support during recovery · Adjunct under oncology care (clinical extracts) · Chronic damp respiratory folklore
Grow · USDA 6b: Almost cosmopolitan on dead hardwood Inoculate oak or beech logs, or simply learn to identify it on walks. In work: Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Harvest: Young, pliable fans. Dry immediately.

Inoculate hardwood logs. This one is slow and worth the wait.
True turkey tail is thin, flexible, and zonate — check the pores, not just the fan.
Dry immediately. A damp polypore is a science project of the wrong kind.

Safety

Uncertain identification Organ transplant without the team’s OK

Lore

Trametes on every dead hardwood, zoned like a turkey’s tail. Japanese PSK extracts from it are actual hospital adjuvants in some countries. The backyard conk is a decoction, not those capsules, and identification still matters.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.