Pouched False Morel

Description

The pouched false morel has a dark chestnut or reddish-brown, irregularly folded, saddle-shaped head with two, sometimes three or four, pointed, raised lobes. It is usually 3–9 cm across and hollow inside. The stem is white or light brown, hollow, without a ring. The flesh is thin and brittle, with no distinct smell.

It grows singly on rotting coniferous wood and stumps, sometimes on compacted soil by roads. It appears in late summer and autumn, more often in the mountains. In Poland it is rare and is on the Red List (category V, vulnerable).

It can be confused with the false morel (which grows in spring and has a brain-like head), with false morels of the genus Helvella, and with true morels. It is classed as deadly poisonous: do not pick it and do not eat it in any form.

Identification features

Cap

Properly a head (an ascus-bearing fruiting body, apothecium), saddle-shaped, irregularly folded, with 2–4 (usually 2) upturned, pointed lobes that give it the look of an infula. The head is about 2.5–9 cm wide and high. Colour dark chestnut, reddish-brown to orange-brown; the surface often has blackish-brown spots. The interior is chambered or hollow. The whole fruiting body (head with stem) is usually small, reaching up to 20 cm in height under favourable conditions.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

The hymenium (spore-bearing layer) covers the outer surface of the head; there are no gills, tubes or spines. Because the hymenium grows for longer than the margin of the head that is fused to the stem, it forms folds and cushions.

Stem

About 2–8 cm tall and 1–2.5 cm thick, longer under favourable conditions. White or pale brown, in some descriptions with a reddish-brown or bluish tinge, usually paler than the head. The surface is finely woolly or smooth; the shape is equally thick throughout, sometimes flattened, swollen at the top, and folded and narrowed at the base. Solid when young, later chambered and hollow. No ring.

Flesh

White to brownish, thin (1–2 mm in the head), brittle. Smell and taste indistinct. Do not taste the flesh.

Spore print and spores

Spores oblong-elliptical, smooth, thin-walled, colourless, with two large oil droplets at the ends, 17–24 × 7–9 µm (descriptions give different ranges). Spore print colour: no data.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph, growing on rotting coniferous wood (stumps, fallen wood), also on compacted soil, e.g. along roads and at campsites. In North America it is associated with many conifer species (spruces, pines, firs, larches, hemlocks, Douglas fir) and some broadleaved trees (poplars, maples, alders, birches).

Distribution. Northern Hemisphere: North America (from Canada to Mexico), Europe, Asia; according to some descriptions also South America. In Poland it is rare, more frequent in the mountains, in coniferous forests, usually growing singly. On the 2006 Red List it has category V (vulnerable). It is not legally protected in Poland; it is not on the list of mushrooms approved for sale.

Fruiting. Late summer and autumn.

What can it be confused with?

• Gyromitra esculenta (false morel) — Head brain-like in its folds, not saddle-shaped with sharp lobes; fruiting bodies appear in early spring, not in autumn. Also deadly poisonous if eaten.
• Gyromitra ambigua (intermediate false morel) — Almost indistinguishable macroscopically; usually smaller and darker, with a more pronounced violet tinge to the stem and larger spores (about 22–30 µm long). Only microscopic examination gives certainty. Protected in Poland (partial protection), not included in the Atlas — do not pick.
• Discina brunnea — Stocky, with a white stem and a wrinkled head, usually without sharp peaks.
• Helvella spp., including Helvella crispa (white saddle) and Helvella maculata — Colours greyer, stem thinner and ribbed; H. maculata has distinctly white flesh. The saddle-shaped head invites mistakes.
• Morchella esculenta and Morchella elata (morels) — A morel's head has deep, regular honeycomb-like pits and is attached to the stem at the bottom, whereas the false morel has a saddle-shaped or folded head without pits. Morels grow in spring.
• Gyromitra fastigiata — Caution: similar protected species (partial protection in Poland), not included in the Atlas. Head brown, irregularly folded, stem white, thick and furrowed; in spring in broadleaf woods on calcareous soils. Do not pick false morels.

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 infula comes from the Roman infula, a woollen headband worn by priests during sacrifices; it alludes to the shape of the head.
• English names are “hooded false morel” and “elfin saddle”.
• A 2023 study using a new chromatographic method did not detect gyromitrin in this species, which challenges the previous belief that it is present. This does not change the classification: the mushroom should still be treated as deadly poisonous.