Edible mushrooms are the fleshy fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi. Edibility may be defined by criteria including the absence of poisonous effects on humans and desirable taste and aroma. Mushrooms that have a particularly desirable taste are described as "choice". Edible mushrooms are consumed for their nutritional and culinary value. Mushrooms, especially dried shiitake, are sources of umami flavor.
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. 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.
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.
Morchella rufobrunnea, commonly known as the blushing morel, is a species of ascomycete fungus in the family Morchellaceae. A choice edible species, the fungus was described as new to science in 1998 by mycologists Gastón Guzmán and Fidel Tapia from collections made in Veracruz, Mexico. Its distribution was later revealed to be far more widespread after several DNA studies suggested that it is also present in the West Coast of the United States, Israel, Australia, Cyprus, Malta and Switzerland.
Morchella ulmaria is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. It was described as new to science in 2012 by Philippe Clowez. Later in the same year, Michael Kuo and colleagues described Morchella cryptica, which is a junior synonym of M. ulmaria. The species occurs in the forests of Midwestern North America, often associated with white ash, the American tulip tree or species of maple or elm. It is closely related to M. castanea and 2 unnamed species from Asia.
Morchella americana is a North American species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae.
Morchella septentrionalis species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae native North America. Described as new to science in 2012, it has a northerly eastern North American distribution, where it occurs north of 44°N. The fungus fruits under hardwoods, particularly American aspen and American ash.
Morchella septimelata is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae described as new to science in 2012. Occurring in western North America, it has been collected from British Columbia, Montana and Oregon, where it fruits at elevations of 1,000 to 2,000 m in coniferous forests in years following slight to moderate burning.
Morchella populiphila is a species of morel fungus native to northwestern North America. Described as new to science in 2012, its specific epithet refers to its association with black cottonwood. The morel used to be referred to as Morchella semilibera in western North American field guides until molecular analysis established that to be a strictly European species. M. populiphila occurs in California, Nevada and Oregon. Its fruit bodies grow up to 15 cm (6 in) tall with a ridged and pitted conical cap that attaches about halfway down the stipe. The cap ridges are dark brown to black in maturity, while the pits are yellowish to brownish. The fungus is edible, although not as highly valued as other morels.
Morchella bicostata is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. It is found in southwestern China.
James Martin Trappe is a mycologist and expert in the field of North American truffle species. He has authored or co-authored 450 scientific papers and written three books on the subject. MycoBank lists him as either author or co-author of 401 individual species, and over the course of his career he has helped guide research on mycorrhizal fungi, and reshaped truffle taxonomy: establishing a new order, two new families, and 40 individual genera.
Morchella guatemalensis is a species of ascomycete fungus in the family Morchellaceae. Described as new to science in 1985, it is found in Chimaltenango Department (Guatemala), where it grows in oak and cypress woodland. The fruit body has a white stipe and orangish cap.
Morchella galilaea is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae that was described as new to science in 2012. Unlike most morels, which are characterized by spring season fruiting, M. galilaea fruits in autumn. Molecular studies have shown that the fungus is found in China, Java, Hawaii, Israel, New Zealand, India, Turkey, and three countries in Africa. The type collection was made under Fraxinus syriaca plants in Israel.
Morchella pragensis, commonly known as the Prague morel, is a species of ascomycete fungus in the family Morchellaceae. Found in Europe, it was described as new to science in 1952 by Czech mycologist František Smotlacha.
Morchella arbutiphila is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae (Ascomycota), described from the island of Cyprus in 2016. The species is notable for its elongated stipe, which is often longer than the cap's length, its ascospores which are larger than most other species of Morchella, and its highly specific ecological preferences. It is known only from igneous substrates of the Troodos mountains in Cyprus and from a single collection in the Aegean region of Turkey.
Morchella fluvialis is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. It was described as new to science in 2014 by Clowez and colleagues, following collections from riparian forests in Spain under Alnus glutinosa, Ulmus minor and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, although previous collections from Turkey under Pinus nigra have also been reported. This species, which corresponds to phylogenetic lineage Mes-18, is very close to Morchella esculenta, from which it differs in its elongated cap with oblong pits and predominantly longitudinal ridges, pronounced rufescence, as well as its Mediterranean hygrophilic distribution along rivers and streams.
Morchella dunensis, the morel of the dunes, is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae (Ascomycota). It was first described as a form of Morchella esculenta by Castañera and colleagues in 1996, but was later recombined as a distinct species by Clowez. In a 2014 study by Richard and colleagues, the authors concluded that the taxon was conspecific to Morchella vulgaris, due to its close phylogenetic proximity to the latter. However, following increased molecular sampling and the testing of an isoparatype collection by Loizides and colleagues in 2016, it was revealed that M. dunensis is indeed very closely related to, but phylogenetically distinct from M. vulgaris. This study also showed that the taxon Morchella andalusiae is phylogenetically identical and therefore a later synonym of M. dunensis.
Morchella laurentiana is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae described as new to science in 2016. It is known only from the Saint Lawrence River basin in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is in the Morchella elata clade.
Morchella sceptriformis is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae (Ascomycota). It was described as new to science in a 2012 study by Clowez, and corresponds to phylogenetic lineage Mes-3. Morchella virginiana, described later in the same year by Kuo and colleagues, is conspecific to this taxon.
Fieldia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native to New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in Australia. It has at times been treated as monotypic, with one species, F. australis. Two are accepted as of April 2021 by sources that include Lenbrassia in Fieldia.
