WMMA Member Britain Morin knows his mushrooms! He is a staple in mushroom identification groups online, and has helped countless people figure out what mushroom they’ve found through various online mushroom communities.
He generously wrote this amazing guide to the Morels of North America, and kindly allowed us to share his work here.
The seasonal morel season has begun.
Everyone gets excited when the year round Morchella rufobrunnea gets posted, but as of February 19th, I’ve seen the first confirmed seasonal section Morchella from Georgia and section Distantes from California. So with the season taking off here’s almost everything you need to know about morels and any of their potential look alikes.
Verpa and False morel info:
So the “hollow” rule for morels originated to separate Verpa from Morchella. The sad thing is the only reason people wanted to separate them and started calling Verpa “false morels” is because a book in the 70s (Toxic and Hallucinogenic Mushroom Poisoning) mentioned they MIGHT contain gyromitrin with no real evidence they did, just pondering the possibility. Everyone ran with the fear and recommended against them, but only in English speaking countries where the book was published (America originally). The rest of the world on the other hand continued to call Verpa morels and eat them/sell them commercially. As it turns out Verpa happen to be in the Morchellaceae with Morchella and are equally edible/absent gyromitrin. The rare neurological symptoms attributed to them have also been shown to be caused by Morchella.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20507248/
And as you can see here Morchella cause issues far more often than Verpa (probably partially because they are eaten less) but importantly with the exact same symptoms.
https://namyco.org/docs/Poisonings30year.pdf
So really Verpa should be considered morels and are best labeled “early or thimble morels” like they had been before the 70s and also still are in non-English countries. More recently published guides are also starting to label them edible again.
The only dangerously toxic potential look alikes for morels are in Gyromitra esculenta group. They happen to also be hollow (their caps are noticeably different looking and attach differently so they are pretty easy to tell apart when you familiarize yourself with them) which sadly also means the “hollow” rule doesn’t actually do anything to protect anyone.
The best way is true pits and ridges vs. folds/convoluted caps to separate most morels from anything else with the exception of Verpa which will have folds, but look much more like a typical morel than any Gyromitra and will also have “cottony” filled stipes. Some stinkhorns also appear to have true pits and ridges, but are also non-toxic and pretty easy to tell apart.
It’s also worth mentioning that whilst not being any safer the hollow rule also excludes some Morchella. Morchella exuberans for example is never completely hollow. Sometimes others will occasionally not be hollow as well.
Gyromitra specific info:
If “false morel” is going to be used it’s best applied to the genus Gyromitra given it’s the only morel-like asco genus that contains dangerously toxic species. Of these only Gyromitra esculenta group (G. ambigua used to be included, but after talking to Alden some of his aff. Infula came back as G. ambigua and showed no gyromitrin so seems some or all specimens may be gyromitrin free at least in NA) have worrisome levels of gyromitrin (hydrolyzes to MMH which people call “rocket fuel”). Out of the other Gyromitra species only G. leucoxantha has shown detectable levels of gyromitrin in North America, but is a cup-like light yellow mushroom impossible to confuse with a morel. The others in NA; Gyromitra korfii, Gyromitra montana, Gyromitra brunnea, Gyromitra caroliniana, Gyromitra perlata/ancilis, and Gyromitra infula have shown no detectable gyromitrin and have been widely eaten without gyromitrin/MMH symptom poisoning and are edible thoroughly cooked. That only leaves Gyromitra californica and Gyromitra sphaerospora which are rare and haven’t a record of being eaten safely so they are best considered edibilty unknown. For gyromitrin testing for Gyromitra species see this study by Alden Dirks:
PDF available on his site here:
Species of “morels” in NA:
NA morel list (qualifying Morchellaceae excluding the “truffles” in the family)
Eastern NA:
Genus Morchella (morels):
-Section Distantes (black morels/elata clade)
- Morchella angusticeps
- Morchella norvegiensis
- Morchella laurentiana
- Morchella punctipes
- Morchella exuberans
- Morchella septentrionalis
- Maybe rarely Morchella importuna
-Section Morchella (yellow morels/esculenta clade)
- Morchella americana
- M. ulmarius
- Morchella prava
- Morchella diminutiva
- Morchella sceptriformis
- Possibly Morchella vulgaris
-Section rufobrunnea (blushing morels/rufobrunnea clade)
- Rare but present is Morchella rufobrunnea
Genus Verpa (early/thimble morels):
- Verpa bohemica
- Verpa conica group
Genus Disciotis (cup morels):
- Disciotis venosa group
Western NA:
Genus Morchella (morels):
-Section Distantes (black morels/elata clade)
- Morchella importuna
- Morchella sextelata
- Morchella eximia
- Morchella tomentosa
- Morchella exuberans
- Morchella brunnea
- Morchella tridentina
- Morchella snyderi
- Morchella kaibabensis
- Morchella Mel-13
- Morchella Mel-8
- Morchella populiphilia
- Morchella norvegiensis
-Section Morchella (yellow morels/esculenta clade)
- Morchella americana
- Morchella vulgaris
- Morchella prava
-Section rufobrunnea (blushing morels/rufobrunnea clade)
- Morchella rufobrunnea
Genus Verpa (early/thimble morels):
- Verpa bohemica
- Verpa chicoensis
- Verpa conica group
Genus Disciotis (cup morels):
- Disciotis venosa group
Then since Hawaii is part of the US we also have another member from Section Morchella:
- Morchella galilaea
And from the gulf islands we have from section Distantes:
- Morchella hispaniensis
Also note that there are likely a few more South American species not included in this list in Mexico
For east vs west some of their ranges are somewhat restricted in those areas as well.
For more accurate and interesting morel and similar asco info also check out:
- False Morels Demystified and Morchella, just the facts, none of the myths on Facebook. Also the website https://www.morelinfo.com/?m=1 we have thanks to Matthew J. L. Kilger
One last thing specific to morels. It’s known that they are indeed toxic (yet unidentified toxins), but after thorough cooking they are edible for most people. Some people who may be more susceptible still cannot tolerate them. Even those that can will often have some GI upset if they eat them in excess. So cook them thoroughly and enjoy with caution.
