Toxic lookalike
False Morel
Gyromitra esculenta
A false morel has a wrinkled, brain-like cap and is chambered or cottony inside instead of hollow.
Morel
Morchella esculentoides
Edible
Also called yellow morel, common morel, sponge mushroom.
The morel is the spring mushroom people hunt hardest: a tan to yellow honeycomb cap on a pale stem, hollow from top to bottom. Long listed in guides as Morchella esculenta, it fruits under hardwoods for a few weeks each spring and has several toxic lookalikes.
The tell
Honeycomb cap, completely hollow inside when sliced.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Egg-shaped to conical, 1 to 3 inches tall, pitted and ridged like a sponge or honeycomb. Tan, yellow-brown or gray, with the ridges usually paler than the pits.
- Underside
- No gills or pores. The cap is fused to the stem along its full length, so the inside is one continuous hollow chamber.
- Stem
- Whitish to cream, hollow, often slightly granular, and wider at the base. No ring and no cup.
- Flesh
- Thin, brittle and cream-colored. Smell is mild and earthy.
- Spore print
- Cream to pale yellow.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 3 inches tall (2.5 to 8 cm); whole mushroom 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm).
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Deciduous woods, old orchards, river bottoms and the edges of disturbed ground. Often near dying elms, ash, tulip poplar and old apple trees.
- Grows on
- Soil, usually in leaf litter near hardwood roots.
- Season
- Spring, roughly March in the South through May and early June in the North.
- Range
- Across the eastern and central United States and southern Canada, with related yellow morels in the West.
Lookalikes
What the morel gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Verpa bohemica
Photo coming
Toxic lookalikeEarly False Morel
Verpa bohemica
Verpa caps hang free like a thimble and attach only at the very top of the stem. A true morel cap is fused to the stem all the way down.
EdibleBlack Morel
Morchella angusticeps
Also a true morel. Its ridges darken to black with age and run mostly vertically, while the yellow morel's ridges stay pale and form a more random honeycomb.
InedibleCommon Stinkhorn
Phallus impudicus
A stinkhorn's head is coated in dark slime that smells of rot, and it grows from an egg-like sac at the base.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible
Field guides across North America list the morel as a choice edible when cooked. The same guides record illness from morels eaten raw or undercooked, and from large quantities eaten with alcohol. Its lookalikes in the genus Gyromitra contain gyromitrin, a toxin that has caused deaths, which is why the hollow-inside test matters.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the morel
How do you tell a true morel from a false morel?
Sliced lengthwise, a true morel is completely hollow from the tip of the cap to the base of the stem, and its cap is pitted like a honeycomb with the bottom edge fused to the stem. A false morel is wrinkled or lobed like a brain, and the inside is chambered or filled with cottony tissue.
When is morel season?
Spring. Morels start in March in the southern states and move north as soil temperatures rise, reaching the northern states and Canada in May. In any one place the season usually lasts two to four weeks.
Where do morels grow?
In and around deciduous woods, often near elms that died in the last year or two, old apple orchards, ash, and tulip poplar. They also turn up on river floodplains and on ground disturbed by fire or logging the previous year.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Morchella esculentoides
MushroomExpert.com
- Yellow Morel (Common Morel)
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Morchella esculentoides
Index Fungorum
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