Morchella importuna, the landscape morel, is a black morel of the M. elata group described in 2012 from King County, Washington. It fruits in wood chips, gardens, planters and other disturbed urban ground, and is one of the black morels field-cultivated commercially in China. Richard et al. (2015) argued that it is probably a later synonym of an older European name such as M. elata, M. vaporaria or M. hortensis.
Choice edible when thoroughly cooked; raw morels are poisonous. Some people react even to cooked morels, especially with alcohol. Look-alikes: Gyromitra (false morels) have wrinkled, brain-like caps with a chambered interior; Verpa caps attach only at the stem apex and the stem contains cottony tissue. Slice each morel lengthwise to confirm one continuous hollow.
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Habitat
Saprobic in wood chips, gardens, fire pits, planters and other disturbed ground, mostly in urban settings; Kuo suggests it may have mycorrhizal tendencies near trees. Fruits March to May.
Distribution
North America: mainly northern California and the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada), with isolated reports from the Midwest and the east. Also reported from Spain, France, Switzerland, Turkey and China; whether these populations are native or introduced is unclear.
Characteristics
Fruit body: 6-20 cm tall. Cap: 3-15 cm high, 2-9 cm wide, conical to broadly conical or occasionally egg-shaped, with 12-20 primary vertical ridges and many horizontal cross-ridges; ridges pale to dark gray when young, grayish brown to nearly black with age; pits vertically elongated. Stem: 3-10 cm high, 2-6 cm wide, often thicker at the base, whitish to pale brown, smooth or finely mealy, developing longitudinal ridges with age; hollow. Flesh: Whitish to watery tan. Spores: Elliptical, smooth, 18-24 x 10-13 um. Key features: Black ladder-ridged morel in mulch or disturbed urban ground in spring.
Difficulty
Expert
Substrates
Prepared field soil beds sown with morel spawn · Exogenous nutrition placed on spawned beds
