Helvella crispa    (Scop.:Fr.) Fr. 

common name(s) : White Saddle, Common Brain Fungus, Common White Helvella 

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

edibility : discard

photo gallery of Helvella crispa
photo gallery of Helvella crispa potential confusions with Helvella crispa toxicity of Helvella crispa genus Helvella  

The cap is mitre- or saddle-shaped, convoluted, with 2 to 4 prominent lobes, with an ochraceous cream internal surface, the external being white, with a well differentiated stem, thick, long, white and not grey, deeply split into longitudinal bands with hollow spaces between them.

The flesh is white, elastic or brittle; its taste is mild, weak; the odour is very faint, pleasant of bread crust or morel, according to some authors.

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

It grows on the ground, in damp broad-leaved or mixed woods, on path sides, edge of woods, parks.

The fruiting period takes place from April to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 4 cm (between 2 and 6 cm)
  total height approximately 9 cm (between 2 and 15 cm)
  width of stem approximately 25 mm (between 10 and 40 mm)

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

Distinctive features : white to cream cap, mitre- or saddle-shaped, convoluted, with 2 to 4 prominent lobes; white stem deeply split into longitudinal bands

Helvella crispa is infrequent and scattered in the forest of Rambouillet, and is frequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Helvella crispa in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Helvella crispa in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18