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Photography

Morchella elata and Morchella esculenta

Morchella esculenta
Morchella esculenta, the Common Morel, fruits from March to May and is a popular edible fungus, as is Morchella elata (illustrated above). There is a danger of confusing morels with the deadly poisonous Gyromitra esculenta.

Identification guide

Description

The hollow conical or egg-shaped cap of this popular edible species is deeply pitted, rather like an irregular honeycomb. Within the pits the surface varies from pale brown to grey and darkens with age.

Smooth at the top but usually grooved near the base, the stipe has just one hollow chamber.

The specimen illustrated here is the black morel, Morchella elata, a very closely related species with a more pointed cap than Morchella esculenta and with the cap pits tending to align in vertical rows. Not all experts treat the many varieties of morels as separate species, and for the amateur enthusiast's purposes they may as well be treated as one. They are all good edible fungi.

Dimensions

Cap 3 to 8 cm in diameter and 6 to 8 cm tall; stem 1 to 3 cm diameter and 4 to 10 cm tall.

Spore print

Pale cream.

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat

On rich, well-drained soil under trees; often beneath hedges and on disturbed soil at the edge of a garden.

Season

April and May.

Occurrence

Infrequent.

Similar species

  1. Gyromitra esculenta has a red-brown, brain-like cap and a stipe that is hollowed into several chambers.
  2. Helvella crispa has a fluted, broader stem with external grooves and internal hollow channels.
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