Morchella esculenta    (L.:Fr.) Pers. 

common name(s) : Morel, Common Morille 

New classification: Ascomycota/Pezizomycotina/Pezizomycetes/Pezizomycetidae/Pezizales/Morchellaceae  
Former classification: Ascomycota/Hymenoascomycetes/Pezizomycetideae/Pezizales/Pezizineae/Morchellaceae  

synonyms: Morchella esculenta-rigida 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Morchella umbrina, Morchella esculenta-umbrina)  

edibility : edible if well cooked

potential confusions with  Morchella esculenta toxicity of Morchella esculenta genus Morchella  

The cap is honeycombed cap, round, with ridges forming irregular honeycombs, mostly beige but also blackish, with a well differentiated, thick, creamy white stem.

The flesh is greyish or cream; its taste is mild; the odour is faint and pleasant.

The fertile surface is smooth. The spore print is cream.

It grows on the ground, along streams, bushes, on sandy ground, rubble, on a rather calcareous soil, with ash, also apple trees, elm, oaks, poplar, hazel.

The fruiting period takes place from April to June.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 7 cm (between 3 and 15 cm)
  total height approximately 9 cm (between 3 and 25 cm)
  width of stem approximately 40 mm (between 10 and 120 mm)

Chemical tests : asci tips not blued with Melzer's reagent.

Distinctive features : brown cap adhering to stem; no vallecule (small free room on top of stem); early in the season;

Morchella esculenta is rare and confined in the forest of Rambouillet, and is infrequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Morchella esculenta in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Morchella esculenta in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18