Morel Experts, never seen these before.

[DAOutfitters208]

We went out picking tonight and found a bunch of these. I’ve never seen false morels with this kind of cap around my property. Usually it’s easy to tell a fake. Google was less than helpful. Are these false morels?

The last pictures where the cap attaches to the stem at the base of the cap are real, but the others where the cap attaches to the stem at the top with cotton like fiber in the stem have me concerned.

 

[Jskaanland]

Top ones looks like a Verpa Bohemica ( Early Morels ).****

****I'm not an expert... nor do I play one on TV, I'm just a dude that is on a facebook group for mushroom info.

 

[timmymac24]

Search dog pecker mushrooms or half morels

 

[DAOutfitters208]

I will add I’m located in north Idaho.

 

[TomJoad]

Everything in your photos says Verpa. Where did you find them? Under trees, stream adjacent, then you’re looking good.

Fibers are inside the stem cavity or connecting stem to cap (veil or annulus)?

— Edited to avoid future confusion —

 

[def90]

If the cap is free hanging, as in not attached at the bottom as in your first few pics, it is not a morel. I wouldn’t touch it.

 

[dylanphelps]

They look similar to what I would see in Alaska and the locals all called them false morels

 

[DAOutfitters208]

Everything in your photos says yellow morel. Where did you find them? Under trees, stream adjacent, then you’re looking good.

Fibers are inside the stem cavity or connecting stem to cap (veil or annulus)?

Found them growing on an old dirt road that is covered with leaves, brush and decaying tree branches that gets runoff. It’s where we normally find them. When In googled false morels it said cotton fiber in the stem is a give away. But the false morels I see around here have never had a cap that looks exactly like a true morel.

 

[TomJoad]

@dylanphelps and @def90 are right about the cap separation. Looks like a morel but not a yellow or in the classic Morchella family. It’s a part of the Verpa family or thimble mushrooms. Some Verpa are edible but not anywhere near as good as Morchella and… some will give you bellyache’s. Sadly I’d compost em’ .

 

[DAOutfitters208]

@dylanphelps and @def90 are right about the cap separation. Looks like a morel but not a yellow or in the classic Morchella family. It’s a part of the Verpa family or thimble mushrooms. Some Verpa are edible but not anywhere near as good as Morchella and… some will give you bellyache’s. Sadly I’d compost em’ .

I’ll do the same. My kids were excited to find them, but something was off and I don’t need them getting sick taking a chance. They just started popping here so there is more time to get the good ones.

 

[goathunter]

If you slice one in half vertically is it hollow all the way through from tip to tail?

 

[NoWiser]

Very clearly not a real morel. I’d be tossing them, without a doubt.

 

[goathunter]

Very clearly not a real morel. I’d be tossing them, without a doubt.

I'm no expert either and would like to learn more from this thread. Could you explain more? I would say the first images definitely look suspect.

But that last black one looks like a morel to me - pitted rather than folded, looks hollow all the way through. I know false morels and real ones will grow in the same place. But I agree toss them all to be safe.

Anyways they all look much closer to the real thing than the false ones I've encountered.

 

[HuntWyld]

We call those false morels around here, never tested it but it’s my understanding they are non edible.

 

[Wrench]

The audobon society north American guide to mushrooms has fantastic data on how to characterize the specimen based on location, time/temp, habitat, color, size, shape....and about every other variable.

Best field reference I've found.

 

[def90]

I'm no expert either and would like to learn more from this thread. Could you explain more? I would say the first images definitely look suspect.

But that last black one looks like a morel to me - pitted rather than folded, looks hollow all the way through. I know false morels and real ones will grow in the same place. But I agree toss them all to be safe.

Anyways they all look much closer to the real thing than the false ones I've encountered.

The OP said in his post that the last pic was a real Morel as a comparison to the ones he was asking about so yes, that last pic is a morel as the cap is attached at the base of the cap. The rest of them are not and should not be eaten.

 

[TomJoad]

The audobon society north American guide to mushrooms has fantastic data on how to characterize the specimen based on location, time/temp, habitat, color, size, shape....and about every other variable.

Best field reference I've found.

 

[goathunter]

The OP said in his post that the last pic was a real Morel as a comparison to the ones he was asking about so yes, that last pic is a morel as the cap is attached at the base of the cap. The rest of them are not and should not be eaten.

Ok good, I might know what I'm doing then.

 

[magtech]

If the cap bottom is not solid but floppy, then droppy.

 

[FLATHEAD]

This is why I dont do shrooms.