Morchella angusticeps
Description
Morchella angusticeps is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae native to eastern North America. It is known to be delicious as well as boasting high levels of antioxidants, essential minerals and vitamins such as copper, iron, manganese, and zinc. These morels can be rare or even non-existent some years and very abundant others. They can be difficult to spot because they look very much like a pine cones. They fruit from late May into July moving up in elevation.
Described by Charles Horton Peck in 1879, the name M. angusticeps was clarified in 2012 prior to which this species may have been referred to as either M. angusticeps or M. elata. M. angusticeps is one of the black morels, and is found in eastern North America, where it occurs in association with various hardwoods in the spring.
Black Morels grow near or from rotting wood and for at least part of its cycle, it consumes dead or decaying materials such as dead leaves or wood. It has a cap that is generally 3-8 cm tall and 2-5 cm wide, usually conical with a sharp or bluntly rounded apex with ridges and pits. It starts off with a yellowish color and grows dark brown to black as it ages. The stem can be 2-8 cm high and 1-3 cm wide with a white to pale brown color and sometimes develops folds and channels.
A similar, although smaller, black morel occurs in northeastern North America, M. septentrionalis.
Like other morels, M. angusticeps is a choice edible. However, all morels must be thoroughly cooked before being eaten. Raw morels contain toxins that will make you sick but which are destroyed by the cooking process. Some people find that even cooked morels cause mild stomach upset, particularly if they drink alcohol with their morel meal. M. angusticeps seems more likely than most morels to cause stomach upset with alcohol.
Common names: Black Morel.
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Possibly saprobic and mycorrhizal at different points in its life cycle; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously under hardwoods, including white ash, green ash, and tulip tree; March through May; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.
Cap
3-8 cm tall and 2-5 cm wide; usually conical or bluntly conical, with a sharp or bluntly rounded apex - but occasionally egg-shaped; pitted and ridged, with the pits primarily arranged vertically; when young with nearly bald or finely velvety, flattened, tan to brown ridges and dull brownish-yellow pits; when mature with flattened to sharpened or eroded, dark brown to black ridges and brownish to yellowish (or occasionally olive) pits; attached to the stem with a small groove (2-5 mm deep); hollow.
Stem
2-8 cm high and 1-3 cm wide; equal, or with a slightly swollen base; whitish to pale brownish; finely mealy with granules, or nearly bald; sometimes developing folds and channels, especially near the base; in warm, wet conditions sometimes becoming prominently ridged and/or swollen to reach the width of the cap; hollow.
Microscopic Features
Spores 22-27 x 11-15 µ; smooth; long-elliptical; without oil droplets; contents homogeneous. Asci 8-spored. Paraphyses cylindric with variable apices; septate; hyaline in KOH. Elements on sterile ridges 100-200 x 7.5-35 µ; septate; hyaline to brownish or brown in KOH; terminal cell cylindric, clavate, subcapitate, or occasionally irregular.
Look-Alikes
Morchella septentrionalis
Typical black morel near or above 44° latitude. Has spores that are 20-25 x 11-15µ in size, which makes them slightly smaller than the 22-28 x 11-15µ spores of M. angusticeps.
Morchella septentrionalis
Grows 4-7.5cm tall, making it slightly shorter than M. angusticeps. It also has a preference for fruiting near or directly from wood.
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This is a European species, growing in wood chips or mulch.
Morchella punctipes
Have a similar coloration and texture, but M. punctipes is distinguished by its head, which is small to its stipe and it hangs down over the stipe like a skirt for about half its length.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Thomas Woyzbun (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Erlon (Herbert Baker) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Dan Molter (shroomydan) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
