First Monday Mushroom: Yellow morel

Well here we are again for another bright new month. You know what that means, don't ya? First Monday Mushroom!
And sticking with the little post of videos I gave you last week, talking about Spring and morels, I figured I better stay with it. So here you are, the golden beauty everybody will soon be after.:

Yellow morel:  Morchella esculenta

Now for the identification key this month we turn to our old familiar friend, MushroomExpert.com

Mushroom expert breaks down its keys into two sections: the Key to major groups, followed by the keys of each of those groups. Here is the path leading us to our tasty friend above:

1. Mushroom growing on other mushrooms or the decayed remains of other mushrooms.               Mycotrophs

1. Mushroom not growing on other mushrooms.          2

2. Mushroom with gills on its underside.   3
2. Gills absent. 5

3. Growing shelflike on wood (or, if not, then gills concentric rather than radial); mushroom very tough and leathery, corky, or woody (try tearing it in half); gills tough and hard, sometimes maze-like; cap frequently (but not always) with concentric zones of color.      Polypores

3. Not completely as above.             4

4. Gills running down the stem, not platelike and thus not easily separable from the cap and stem (try removing an entire "gill" with your fingers or a sharp object); mushroom usually not growing on wood.   Chanterelles and Trumpets

4. Gills not as above; mushroom growing on wood or elsewhere.       Gilled Mushrooms

5. Mushroom with pores on its underside (they may be very tiny; use a hand lens if unsure).     6
5. Pores absent.          9

6. Stem absent--or, if present, lateral.           Polypores

6. Stem present and central.             7

7. Flesh in stem tough.         Polypores

7. Flesh in stem soft.            8

8. Cap round in outline; pore surface not running down the stem, or only slightly running down the stem; spore print not white.     Boletes

8. Cap round to irregular in outline; pore surface running down the stem; spore print white.               Polypores

9. Mushroom with spines or "teeth"--either on the underside of a cap, or hanging from a branched structure, or clumped together in an indistinct mass.       Toothed Mushrooms

9. Spines or teeth absent.    10

10. Mushroom covered in some part with a foul-smelling slime; arising from a soft underground "egg"; variously shaped (like a club or stick, like crab claws, like a lantern, like a Wiffle ball, etc.); frequently found in urban settings, but also found in woods.           Stinkhorns

10. Not as above.          11

11. Mushroom shaped like a cup, a saucer, a goblet, a standing rabbit ear, a bowl, (etc.), with or without a stem. 12
11. Mushroom not shaped as above.          13

12. Goblet or cup with tiny "eggs" inside; mushroom very small.            Bird's Nest Fungi
12. Eggs absent; mushroom variously sized.   Cup Fungi

13. Mushroom more or less shaped like a ball, or like a ball raised up on a stem, or like a ball set on a starfish.      Puffballs

13. Not as above.          14

14. Mushroom with a clearly defined, more or less central stem that is separate from a clearly defined cap.    15
14. Mushroom without a clearly defined cap and stem.            19

15. Cap shape convex to centrally depressed or vase-shaped; undersurface smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like; rarely fruiting in spring except in warm coastal areas.        Chanterelles & Trumpets

15. Cap shape oval, pointed, lobed, saddle-shaped, irregular, or thimble-like (never vase-shaped or convex); undersurface absent, or hard to see or define; many (but definitely not all) species fruiting in spring.      16

16. Stem completely hollow, or hollow with cottony fibers inside; cap with pits and ridges, or longitudinally wrinkled, or fairly smooth (never lobed or convoluted); without reddish or reddish brown shades; found in spring.            True Morels & Verpas

 

Now for the specifics

1. Cap attached to the stem only at the very top, hanging like a thimble on the end of a pencil (slice the mushroom in half to view it in cross-section); mushroom essentially hollow, but often containing wispy, cotton-candy-like fibers inside. 2
1. Cap more or less fully attached to the stem--or attached about halfway down; mushroom essentially hollow, the interior lacking wispy, cotton-candy-like fibers.    3

2. Cap smooth or with vague, irregular wrinkles; mushroom small to medium in size (3-11 cm tall) when mature; asci 8-spored; spores 21-26 µ long.               Verpa conica

2.  Cap deeply and prominently wrinkled; mushroom sometimes larger than above when mature; asci 2-spored; spores 54-80 µ long.           Verpa bohemica

3. Cap attached to the stem roughly halfway up, with a substantial portion hanging "free"; mature stem often long in proportion to cap; stem often fragile.   4
3. Cap more or less completely attached to the stem--with, at most, a shallow rim at the point of attachment; mature stem proportionally long or not; stem fragile or not.   5

4. Appearing in western North America under black cottonwoods in riverine ecosystems.               Morchella populiphila

4. Appearing east of the Rocky Mountains under various hardwoods, in various ecosystems.               Morchella punctipes

5. Appearing in landscaping settings, primarily along the West Coast in winter and spring but also very rarely in midwestern and eastern North America in fall or spring.          6
5. Appearing in natural ecosystems.         8

6. Young cap usually distinctively pointed; young pits dark, contrasting with pale ridges; young surfaces bruising reddish orange to salmon; mature pits and ridges dull yellow.        Morchella rufobrunnea

6. Not completely as above.             7

7. Mature ridges dark brown to black; mature pits brownish; pits and ridges elaborately developed in laddered vertical channels.  Morchella importuna

7. Not completely as above.            8

8. Ridges (ignore the pits) dark gray to brown or black when young, or pale when young and darkening to brown or black with maturity.            9
8. Ridges pale yellowish or pale brownish throughout development.        15

9. Appearing in conifer burn sites in western North America (or, rarely, in jack pine burn sites above the Great Lakes), usually within a year or two of the fire.     10
9. Not found in conifer burn sites; variously distributed.         12

10. Surfaces densely and conspicuously velvety, especially when young; cap and stem usually dark gray to black but sometimes becoming pale in direct sunlight at high elevations; projecting hairs (120-250+ µ) present, brown in KOH.   Morchella tomentosa

10. Surfaces bald or very finely velvety with a lens; projecting hairs lacking.      11

11. Stem often chambered and layered internally; elements on sterile ridges primarily capitate (often strikingly so).         Morchella capitata

11. Stem usually not as above; elements on sterile ridges variously shaped but not usually capitate. Note: Morchella sextelata and Morchella septimelata cannot be separated morphologically.

Morchella sextelata and

Morchella septimelata

12. Found from the Rocky Mountains westward.         13
12. Found from the Great Plains eastward.     14

13. Mature stem usually strikingly ridged and pocketed; ridges on cap pale yellowish when young.               Morchella snyderi

13. Stem not usually strikingly ridged and pocketed; ridges on cap dark brown to black when young.   Morchella brunnea

14. Appearing from roughly 44° N latitude northward; mushroom 4-7 cm high at maturity; spores usually 20-22 µ long.       Morchella septentrionalis

14. Widely distributed east of the Great plains; mushroom 5-14+ cm high at maturity; spores usually 22-27 µ long.       Morchella angusticeps

15. Found in conifer burn sites in western North America; cap and stem conspicuously velvety when young; projecting hairs (120-250+ µ) present, brown in KOH. Note: This species is usually dark gray to black but can sometimes fade in direct sunlight at high elevations. Morchella tomentosa

15. Ecosystem varying; cap and stem not velvety; projecting hairs absent.            16

16. Cap usually conic or nearly so; cap attached to the stem with a small but noticeable groove or sinus (reminiscent of a race track for ants).            17
16. Cap conic or not; cap attached to the stem directly, without a groove. 18

17. Mature stem usually strikingly ridged and pocketed; ridges on cap usually darkening with maturity or when dried.  Morchella snyderi

17. Mature stem not strikingly ridged and pocketed; ridges on cap not darkening with maturity or when dried.         Morchella frustrata

18. Mature mushrooms small to medium in size (3-12 cm high); pits and ridges primarily vertically arranged; distributed east of the Great Plains.       19
18. Mature mushrooms medium sized to large (5-22+ cm high); pits more randomly arranged; variously distributed.     20

19. Cap usually egg-shaped, with a rounded or bluntly conic apex; mature mushroom 5-13 cm high; southeastern in distribution; possibly limited to association with tulip trees.    Morchella virginiana

19. Cap usually pointed; mature mushroom 3-9 cm high; widely distributed east of the Great Plains and south of the Great Lakes; associated with various hardwoods, including tulip trees, green ash, white ash, and others.  Morchella diminutiva

20. Pits and ridges contorted, asymmetrical, and irregular; ridges often remaining flattened or widely rounded into maturity; often (but not always) found in sandy soil near lakes and rivers.               Morchella prava

20. Pits and ridges not as above; ecology varying.          21

21. Distributed in the Great Lakes region from Ontario to Illinois and Virginia; morphologically inseparable from Morchella esculentoides.      Morchella cryptica

21. Widely distributed in North America; morphologically inseparable from Morchella cryptica.        Morchella esculentoides

There you have it. I've given you video's of how to find them, and a handy identification guide. Go out there and hunt some yellow morels.


Photo cred: Me