The most widely distributed and common morel in North America, with a pale-ridged, honeycomb-pitted cap that is grayish to nearly black in the pits when young and turns yellow to brownish yellow with age. The cap is attached directly to the stem with no groove, and the whole fruit body is hollow. North American field guides called it Morchella esculenta, a European species. Very large, unpicked specimens with inflated stems were called M. crassipes.
Choice edible, but only when thoroughly cooked; raw or undercooked morels cause gastrointestinal upset, and some people react even to cooked ones. Dangerous look-alikes: false morels (Gyromitra and Discina species, some containing the potentially deadly toxin gyromitrin) have brain-like, wrinkled or lobed caps and are chambered or cottony inside; Verpa bohemica's cap hangs free from a cotton-stuffed stem. Slice lengthwise: a true morel is hollow from cap tip to stem base.
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Habitat
In spring. East of the Rocky Mountains almost anywhere with trees, especially dead or dying American elm and living white and green ash, in old apple orchards and occasionally under conifers. West of the Rockies mainly in river bottoms with cottonwood and other hardwoods, or in towns with planted ash and apple. Possibly saprobic and mycorrhizal at different stages of its life cycle.
Distribution
Throughout North America except the Gulf Coast; common east of the Rocky Mountains from Ontario south to Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The same phylogenetic species (Mes-4) has been recorded in Turkey, France and Germany, where it may have been introduced from North America.
Characteristics
Cap: 2.5-11 cm tall (occasionally to 22 cm) and 1.5-6 cm wide, usually egg-shaped with a convex or bluntly conical tip; ridges pale; pits grayish brown to nearly black when young, yellowish to brownish yellow when mature; attached directly to the stem without a groove; hollow. Stem: 2-12 cm long, 1.5-10 cm wide, larger if left unpicked in warm, wet weather; usually swollen at the base, whitish to pale yellowish or brownish, hollow. Spores: (17-)18-22(-24) x 11-13(-15) um, smooth, elliptical, without oil droplets (MushroomExpert.com, as M. esculentoides).
