🍊 Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus sulphureus
This is a guide, not a substitute for expert identification. Foraging guides - including this one - can contain errors. If you are not completely certain of an identification, do not eat it. Cross-check against at least two independent sources, and when in doubt, consult a local foraging expert or an experienced forager in person before eating anything wild.
A bright orange and yellow bracket fungus that grows in unmistakable overlapping shelf-like clusters on living or dead tree trunks, chosen as a relatively beginner-safe pick because it has no dangerous look-alike bracket fungus in the UK of the same colour and growth habit - the real risks with this species are handling and preparation, not misidentification.
Identification
A bracket (shelf) fungus, not a cap-and-stem mushroom, growing directly out of the trunk, branch or stump of a host tree in large, dramatic, overlapping tiers or rosettes that can span 40cm or more across the whole cluster. Individual brackets are fan-shaped to semicircular, soft and moist when young with a suede-like or slightly wavy-edged upper surface, coloured bright sulphur-yellow to vivid orange in bands, and fading to pale cream/ivory as they age. The underside has tiny, angular, whitish to pale-yellow pores rather than gills (it is a polypore) with a white spore print. Young brackets are soft, spongy and succulent; older ones become dry, tough, chalky and woody and are no longer good to eat.
⚠️ Dangerous look-alikes - read this before picking anything
Because of its size, colour and growth habit on tree trunks, chicken of the woods has no dangerous look-alike bracket fungus in the UK - the identification risk is low. The real risks are in handling and preparation: (1) NEVER eat it raw - raw or undercooked material has caused nausea, vomiting, dizziness and gastric upset in confirmed cases, and it must be thoroughly cooked through before eating; (2) even when properly cooked, a meaningful minority of people (commonly cited around one in five) have an allergic or gastrointestinal reaction the first time they try it - UK foraging guides (Wild Food UK) recommend trying only a small amount the first time and some suggest a raw lip/skin patch-test for sensitivity; (3) AVOID specimens growing on yew trees - yew (Taxus baccata) contains toxic alkaloids (taxine), and UK sources (First Nature, Woodland Trust, Wild Food UK) explicitly warn that the fungus may absorb these toxins from the host wood, or that hidden fragments of toxic yew needle/bark can be trapped in its folds; First Nature states it 'cannot recommend collecting Chicken of the Woods from Yew as safe'. AVOID specimens on eucalyptus trees too - this caution is well-documented in the wider foraging literature (including UK forager reports on Wild Food UK's own site) with reported gastrointestinal upset traced to eucalyptus-grown specimens, though the exact mechanism (toxin uptake vs. contamination from the tree's oils/bark) is less rigorously studied than the yew case; treat it as a genuine, if slightly lower-confidence, caution rather than pure folklore. Always avoid old, tough, dry or woody specimens - they are difficult to digest and more likely to cause upset even when otherwise safe.
UK habitat
Grows on the trunks, large branches, or stumps of broadleaf trees, most commonly oak, but also sweet chestnut, beech, cherry, willow and (occasionally) yew - common and widespread throughout the UK on both living and dead/dying wood.
Legal notes
Same position as other wild fungi: picking for personal, non-commercial use is not theft under the Theft Act 1968, s4(3), provided you have permission to be on the land. As a bracket fungus fruiting on a tree, picking the fruiting body itself does not typically involve 'uprooting' a plant under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, s13, but permission from the landowner/occupier is still needed to be on private land, and local byelaws on nature reserves, SSSIs, and some council-owned woodland may restrict or ban foraging - check before picking. Never cut into or damage the host tree itself when harvesting. See the full UK foraging law guide for the general rules.