White Saddle

Description

The white saddle has a cream-white, irregularly folded, lobed head 2–5 cm in diameter, set on a thick, furrowed stem that is widened at the bottom. The whole mushroom is pale, brittle and fairly low, usually 2–10 cm. Instead of gills or tubes it has a smooth, folded surface.

It grows from late summer to late autumn in damp deciduous forests, but also in parks, gardens and by roads, especially readily on calcareous soils. In Poland it is moderately common.

It has such a characteristic appearance that it is hard to confuse with anything. It contains toxic compounds and is not suitable for eating.

Identification features

Cap

Properly a head (the ascus-bearing fruiting body): 2–5 × 2–5 cm (descriptions also give 2–6 cm), irregular, lobed, irregularly folded, sometimes saddle-shaped concave. Colour from whitish through cream-yellowish to dirty ochre. Margin inrolled in young fruiting bodies; underside hairy.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

No gills or tubes: the hymenium (spore-bearing layer) is on the upper side of the lobed head. The underside of the head is hairy, shaggy.

Stem

Height 3–10 cm, thickness 1–2.5 cm (descriptions also give 2–5 cm), distinctly furrowed and ribbed (with pits and ribs), widened at the bottom; colour white, cream or pinkish. No ring or volva. The whole fruiting body is 2–10 (exceptionally up to 25) cm tall.

Flesh

Thin, brittle, whitish. Smell described as pleasant; do not taste it.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Ascospores elliptical, smooth, colourless; size on average 19 × 11.5 µm (range 15–21 × 10–12 µm).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A terrestrial saprotroph (some descriptions also give mycorrhiza — a discrepancy). Grows in damp deciduous forests (e.g. under beeches), readily on calcareous soils, but also in parks, gardens, hedgerows, on grass, by roads and at the edges of meadows.

Distribution. Europe, North America, also China and Japan; moderately common in Poland. In the western part of North America it is sometimes replaced by Helvella lacunosa. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From late summer to late autumn.

What can it be confused with?

• Helvella elastica (elastic saddle) — Stem smooth, without pits and ribs; smaller, head saddle-shaped.
• Helvella lacunosa (white forms) — It is distinguished from it by the hairy underside of the head and the inrolled margin in young specimens of H. crispa.

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

• Many older guidebooks got it wrong; today it is regarded as inedible.
• The first description comes from Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, who named it Phallus crispus.
• The genus name Helvella originally meant an Italian herb, and was later linked to morels.
• In the western part of North America it is sometimes replaced by the related Helvella lacunosa.