I took the photos below while I was on the Big Gunpowder Trail in Baltimore County, Maryland. I took them at the end of November and I was surprised at the nice displays of Turkey Tail mushrooms that I found while I was there.
The Big Gunpowder Trail is at the Big Gunpowder Falls State Park located at approximately 11203 Belair Road in Kingsville, Maryland 21087. Belair Road is also known as US-1 and Kingsville is part of Baltimore County. This is also the same trail that will lead you to the Pot Rocks area.
Most of the displays I found were just off the trail. These two displays that I'm showing today for #mushroommonday were closer to the water. I had to go through some briars to get to them but luckily the briars weren't dense and I think it was totally worth the couple of pricks I got by the tiny thorns.
Turkey Tail mushrooms aka Trametes Versicolor are in the polypore group of fungi as are other viarieties of Trametes which are many. The Turkey Tails in this display have a blue hue to them but the other mushrooms on this tree stump are a different variety of bracket Trametes or polypore.
A couple of ways you can tell the Turkey Tail mushroom from the False Turkey Tail mushroom is by feeling the underside of the mushroom with your finger. The pores will cause the underneath to feel rough on the Turkey Tail where as the False Turkey Tail will feel smooth. The other way is by sight. If you look at the underside then the pores on the Turkey Tail should be visible and the False Turkey Tail should look smooth or have slight winkling without any visible pores.
Turkey Tail mushrooms are considered edible but are normally done so as a tea, tincture or powder. They are mainly used medicinally as a way to possibly boost the immune system, aid the digestive system, treat upper respiratory infections and more. I have to stress to you though that before delving into using any mushrooms you definitely need to read up about them and know what you're doing. There are so many different kinds of mushrooms and many of those have look-alikes. There is a lot of information online to learn more but even that can be overwhelming. I just recently joined a local group in my attempt to learn more about mushrooms. I will say that I can only identify a handful of mushrooms with certainty. The difference between knowing for certain could mean sickness or even death so never ingest anything without knowing for sure what you are dealing with and have prepared it correctly.
Honestly, my favorite way to enjoy mushrooms is by finding them and photographing them. I mean, I do like eating mushrooms and have even thought about ordering a couple of those mushroom growing kits. I most likely will do that so I can show the experience (good or bad) on ordering, growing, harvesting and cooking them. My two picks would definitely be Lion's Mane and the second pick would probably be a King Oyster. I found a recipe for a Lion's Mane type imitation crab cake and I am from Maryland after all..lol. In case anyone didn't know Maryland is known for blue crabs and crab cakes. I haven't made crab cakes myself in a long time but I can remember most of the ingredients and there is even a recipe on the can of McCormick Old Bay seasoning which is what most Marylander's use to season their crabs and crab cakes with.
Anyway, back to these Turkey Tails! My photos are only from the short tree stump and another taller stump that was also by the water.
Both of these displays had a blue hue to them. I found some other Turkey Tail mushrooms on the opposite side of the trail with a deeper blue but I'll show those in another post. Turkey Tail mushrooms can have a variety of colors including blue, orange, brown, purple and more. They can also have a mixture of colors as well which you can see in these photos.
I do hope you've enjoyed "feasting" on the photos I presented to you today! Just be sure to save some room for the courses that I'll be dishing up in upcoming posts. I know ... I'm just being silly now! 😉
Happy Mushroom Monday! 😊
All photos and text by me 
