Morchella, the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales. These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges with pits composing their caps. Morels are prized by gourmet cooks, particularly in Catalan and French cuisine, but can be toxic if consumed raw or undercooked. Due to difficulties in cultivation, commercial harvesting of wild morels has become a multimillion-dollar industry in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, in particular North America, Turkey, China, the Himalayas, India, and Pakistan where these highly prized fungi are found in abundance.
Gyromitra esculenta is an ascomycete fungus from the genus Gyromitra, widely distributed across Europe and North America. It normally fruits in sandy soils under coniferous trees in spring and early summer. The fruiting body, or mushroom, is an irregular brain-shaped cap dark brown in colour that can reach 10 centimetres high and 15 cm (6 in) wide, perched on a stout white stipe up to 6 cm high.
Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi, and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus, and fungi with fruiting bodies of more unusual shape, such as morels, truffles and the swamp beacon. New taxonomic and molecular data fail to support the monophyly of the Discomycetes.
Discina gigas, commonly known as the snow mushroom, snowbank false morel, walnut, giants false morel, snow morel, snow false morel, calf brain, or bull nose, is a species of fungus and a member of the Ascomycota found in Europe. It is referred to as one of the false morels, due to its similar appearance and occurrence in the spring and early summer in similar habitats to true morels.
Gyromitra is a genus of about 18 species of ascomycete fungi. They are a false morel - a frequently toxic mushroom that can be mistaken for edible mushrooms of the genus Morchella (morels).
The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white truffles, and the desert truffles. The Pezizales can be saprobic, mycorrhizal, or parasitic on plants. Species grow on soil, wood, leaves and dung. Soil-inhabiting species often fruit in habitats with a high pH and low content of organic matter, including disturbed ground. Most species occur in temperate regions or at high elevation. Several members of the Sarcoscyphaceae and Sarcosomataceae are common in tropical regions.
Paragyromitra infula, commonly known as the hooded false morel or the elfin saddle, is a species of fungus in the family Discinaceae. The dark reddish-brown caps of the fruit bodies develop a characteristic saddle-shape in maturity, and the ends of both saddle lobes are drawn out to sharp tips that project above the level of the fruit body. The stipe is white or flushed pale brown, smooth on the outside, but hollow with some chambers inside.
The Tuberaceae are a family of mycorrhizal fungi, in the order Pezizales, that evolved during or after the first major radiation of Angiosperms in the Jurassic period. It includes the genus Tuber, which includes the so-called "true" truffles. It was characterized by the Belgian botanist Barthélemy Charles Joseph du Mortier in 1822. A molecular study of ribosomal DNA by mycologist Kerry O'Donnell in 1997 found that a small clade now redefined as Helvellaceae is most closely related to the Tuberaceae. The mycologist Mary Cloyd Burnley Stifler studied and described fungal family, donating specimens to herbariums across the United States.
Gyromitra caroliniana, known commonly as the Carolina false morel or big red, is an ascomycete fungus of the genus Gyromitra, within the Pezizales group of fungi. It is found in hardwood forests of the southeastern United States, where it fruits in early spring soon after snowmelt.
Verpa is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the morels. Resembling the latter genus in edibility and form, the common name early morels is popular. There are five species in the widespread genus.
The Morchellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi in the order Pezizales. According to a standard reference work, the family has contained at least 49 species distributed among four genera. However, in 2012, five genera that produce ascoma that are sequestrate and hypogeous were added. The best-known members are the highly regarded and commercially picked true morels of the genus Morchella, the thimble morels of the genus Verpa, and a genus of cup-shaped fungi Disciotis. The remaining four genera produce the sequestrate fruit bodies.
Hydnotrya is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the false morels of the genus Gyromitra. There are about 15 species in the genus. A molecular phylogenetic study recovered a species that was described but neglected for 50 years, Hydnotrya bailii.
The Helvellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi, the best-known members of which are the elfin saddles of the genus Helvella. Originally erected by Elias Magnus Fries in 1823 as Elvellacei, it contained many genera. Several of these, such as Gyromitra and Discina, have been found to be more distantly related in a molecular study of ribosomal DNA by mycologist Kerry O'Donnell in 1997, leaving a much smaller core clade now redefined as Helvellaceae. Instead, this narrowly defined group is most closely related to the true truffles of the Tuberaceae. Although the Dictionary of the Fungi considered the Helvellaceae to contain six genera and 63 species, genetic analysis has shown that Leucangium, previously classified in this family, is more closely related to the Morchellaceae.
The Pyronemataceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales. It is the largest family of the Pezizales, encompassing 75 genera and approximately 500 species. Phylogenetic analyses does not support the prior classifications of this family, and suggest that the family is not monophyletic as it is currently circumscribed.
Morchella elata is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. It is one of many related species commonly known as black morels, and until 2012 the name M. elata was broadly applied to black morels throughout the globe. Like most members of the genus, M. elata is a popular edible fungus and is sought by many mushroom hunters.
Chorioactis is a genus of fungi that contains the single species Chorioactis geaster. The mushroom is commonly known as the devil's cigar or the Texas star in the United States, while in Japan it is called kirinomitake (キリノミタケ). This extremely rare mushroom is notable for its unusual appearance and disjunct distribution; it is found only in select locales in Texas and Japan. The fruit body, which grows on the stumps or dead roots of cedar elms or dead oaks, somewhat resembles a dark brown or black cigar before it splits open radially into a starlike arrangement of four to seven leathery rays. The interior surface of the fruit body bears the spore-bearing tissue known as the hymenium, and is colored white to brown, depending on its age. The fruit body opening can be accompanied by a distinct hissing sound and the release of a smoky cloud of spores.
Verpa bohemica is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. The synonym Ptychoverpa bohemica is often used by European mycologists and it is commonly known as the early morel or the wrinkled thimble-cap. The mushroom has a pale yellow or brown thimble-shaped cap—2 to 4 cm in diameter by 2 to 5 cm long—that has a surface wrinkled and ribbed with brain-like convolutions. A feature distinguishing the species from true morels, the cap hangs free from the top of the stem, which is lighter in color, brittle, and up to 12 cm long by 1 to 2.5 cm thick. Microscopically, the mushroom is distinguished by its large spores, typically 60–80 by 15–18 μm, and the presence of only two spores per ascus.
Episphaeria is a genus of fungus in the Agaricales. The genus is monotypic, and contains the single rare species Episphaeria fraxinicola, found in Europe. Its familial position is not known with certainty. The tiny fruit bodies of the fungus resemble minute, white cups that grow scattered or in groups on the bark of ash trees.
Elaphomyces is a genus of hypogeous fungi in the family Elaphomycetaceae. The widespread genus contains 25 truffle-like species. Elaphomyces is one of the most important ectomycorrhizal fungal genera in temperate and subarctic forest ecosystems. E. asperulus, E. granulatus, and E. muricatus were found to accumulate arsenic ; the composition of organoarsenicals is very unusual, with methylarsonic acid and trimethylarsine oxide as major As compounds.
Morchella americana is a North American species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae.
