False morel

Description

The false morel has an irregular, brain-like folded head 5–15 cm across, from yellow-brown to chestnut or almost black, set on a short, whitish, grooved stem. Inside it is hollow and brittle. It appears in spring, from March to May, in pine woods on sandy soil, often in clearcuts and in places with disturbed leaf litter. In Poland it is fairly common.

It is easily confused with the yellow morel, which has a regularly pitted (honeycomb), pale or grey head fused with the stem. The false morel has a head folded like a brain and usually darker.

The species name means "edible", but the mushroom contains the volatile poison gyromitrin. It used to be collected and sold in large quantities, and after poisonings were found its sale was banned in most European countries. Do not pick false morels for eating.

Identification features

Cap

The fruiting body resembles a basidiomycete in form: a head and a stem, hollow inside. The head (the so-called cap) is 5–12 cm high and 5–15 cm wide, irregularly spherical, strongly folded like a brain, hollow and interlaced inside. Surface yellow-brown through brown to chestnut-brown, becoming blacker with age (colours can also be reddish, purplish or golden). The hymenial layer is on the outer surface of the head.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

No gills or tubes: a sac fungus (Ascomycota); the hymenium (fertile layer) covers the outer, folded surface of the head.

Stem

Short, irregular, dirty white, somewhat thickened in the lower part, with irregular hollows; height 3–6 cm, thickness 1–5 cm. Solid in young specimens, hollow in older ones; takes on a violet-red tinge with time. No ring.

Flesh

Cartilaginous, brittle, whitish; smell indistinct or pleasant, fruity; taste mild. It must never be tasted, nor cooked in an enclosed room (volatile poisons).

Spore print and spores

Spore print whitish. Spores spindle-shaped to ellipsoid, colourless, smooth, with numerous small guttules, 17–28 × 10–13 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial saprotrophic fungus. Grows on sandy soils in pine woods, sometimes under aspens, often in clearcuts, on stream banks, ploughed ground and in places with disturbed leaf litter.

Distribution. Europe (absent in some regions) and North America. In Poland throughout the country except the higher parts of the mountains, fairly common. Not legally protected. In some countries it was or is collected and sold (Finland, Bulgaria, Spain); in Germany and Switzerland its sale has been banned.

Fruiting. March to May (some descriptions give April–July).

What can it be confused with?

• Morchella esculenta (yellow morel) and other morels — Morels are more symmetrical, with a honeycomb structure (pits), the head fused with the stem and hollow inside; the false morel has an irregular, brain-like folded head, usually darker and larger. Confusion with a morel is a frequent cause of poisonings.
• Gyromitra gigas (snow morel) — Rarer, larger fruiting bodies, a different head shape, usually paler; grows in deciduous and spruce woods. Young fruiting bodies are not yet large, and the false morel can be pale, which is why picking false morels is discouraged for beginners.
• Gyromitra fastigiata (beefsteak morel) — Colour similar to the snow morel, but more slender, the head in the shape of a bent disc; grows on calcareous soils on decaying deciduous wood, mainly beech. The rarest of the three, partly protected in Poland. Protected in Poland (partial protection), not included in the Atlas — do not pick.
• Gyromitra infula, G. ambigua — Similar and poisonous; detailed differences — no data. G. ambigua is protected in Poland (partial protection) and not included in the Atlas — do not pick.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The epithet esculenta means "edible", although the mushroom is regarded as poisonous.
• According to a Polish study from 1971, the species accounted for as much as 23% of deaths from mushroom poisoning per year.
• The German Lorchel comes from the old Lorche and alludes to Morchel (morel).
• It appeared on the label of a Polish postage stamp of 31 August 2012 (1.95 zł) with the yellow morel.