A false morel with a saddle-shaped, usually two-lobed cap that ranges from tan to reddish or dark brown, on a stem that is not ribbed. It fruits in late summer and fall, mostly on well-decayed conifer wood. It has long been treated as poisonous because it was thought to contain gyromitrin, as in Gyromitra esculenta.
Poisonous; do not eat. Long reported to contain gyromitrin, which breaks down to monomethylhydrazine, the toxin behind deaths from Gyromitra esculenta. A 2023 study reported by Wikipedia found no gyromitrin in this species, but that finding is not settled, so treat it as dangerous.
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Habitat
Saprobic; alone, scattered or in groups on well-decayed conifer wood or on the ground near stumps and woody debris, sometimes on packed ground such as roadsides and campgrounds. Late summer and fall; winter and spring in coastal California.
Distribution
Widespread in North America, more common in northern and montane forests; also reported from Europe, Asia and South America.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-13 cm high and 2-8 cm across; nearly cup-shaped when young, soon lobed, usually with two raised lobes (rarely three or four) whose tips may be drawn out to points; surface bald and loosely wrinkled but usually not brainlike; tan, yellowish, reddish or dark brown; underside whitish to brownish and finely dusted. Stem: 2-12 cm long, up to 3 cm thick; not ribbed; colored like the cap or paler; finely dusted; mostly hollow. Flesh: thin, brittle, whitish to brownish. Spores: 17-24 x 7-11 µm, narrowly ellipsoid, smooth, usually with two large oil droplets.
