Morel
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Fungi Division: Ascomycota Subdivision: Pezizomycotina Class: Pezizomycetes Order: Pezizales Family: Morchellaceae Genus: Morchella
Species
Morchella angusticeps Morchella conica Morchella costata Morchella crassipes Morchella elata Morchella esculenta Morchella gigas Morchella semilibera Morchella spongiola Morchella spongiola var. dunensis Morchella vulgaris Morchella sp. MA4SSI73 Morchella sp. UC 1475091

The morel is a famed type of edible cup fungus. The morel produces a highly porous ascocarp, greatly prized by gourmet cooks, particularly for French cuisine.

The best known morel is the Morchella deliciosa, which is commonly known as just morel. Other types include Morchella esculenta, M. elata, M. semilibera, and M. vulgaris.

The morel is the state mushroom of Minnesota.

When gathering morels, care must be taken to distinguish them from the poisonous false morel (Gyromitra esculenta and others).

The morel grows abundantly in the two and sometimes three years immediately following a forest fire, but where fire supression is practiced, may grow regularly though in small amount in the same spot year after year. These spots may be jealously guarded by mushroom pickers, as the mushrooms represent a cash crop. Commercial pickers and buyers in North America will follow forest fires to gather morels. Morels have not yet been successfully farmed on a large scale, and the commercial morel industry is based on harvest of wild mushrooms.

See mushroom hunting.

Sources

Harvesting Morels After Wildfire in Alaska. Wurtz et al. USDA Forest Service Research Note PNW-RN-546, February 2005.

External links

• The Great Morel
• Wild Harvest