CautionEdible cooked
Chicken of the woods
Laetiporus sulphureus
Bright sulfur shelves on trees. Choice edible when young and on hardwood — still try a small bit first.
- Marks
- Pores not gills; sulfur underside; on wood
- Size
- Shelves 4–12 in
- Habitat
- Oaks and other hardwoods, sometimes on living trees.
- Season
- May–October, after rains.
- Frequency
- uncommon
Overlapping fan shelves, orange on top, sulfur-yellow beneath, no gills (tiny pores). Grows on trunks and stumps, not from soil.
If this is the one
Avoid specimens on conifers or locust. Some people get GI upset — cook well, eat a tablespoon the first time, wait a day.