''Morchella semilibera'', commonly called the half-free morel, is an edible species of

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

in the family

Morchellaceae The Morchellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi in the order Pezizales. According to a standard reference work, the family has contained at least 49 species distributed among four genera. However, in 2012, five genera that produce ascoma that ...

native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. DNA analysis has shown that the half-free morels, which appear nearly identical on a

macroscopic scale The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or phenomena are large enough to be visible with the naked eye, without magnifying optical instruments. It is the opposite of microscopic. Overview When applied to physical phenomena an ...

, are a

cryptic species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, consisting of at least three geographically isolated species. Because

de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

originally described the species based on specimens from Europe, the

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''M. semilibera'' should be restricted to the European species. In 2012, ''

Morchella populiphila ''Morchella'', the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales (division Ascomycota). These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges with ...

'' was described from western North America, while

Peck A peck is an imperial and United States customary unit of dry volume, equivalent to 2 dry gallons or 8 dry quarts or 16 dry pints. An imperial peck is equivalent to 9.09 liters and a US customary peck is equivalent to 8.81 liters. Two pecks mak ...

's 1903 species name ''

Morchella punctipes ''Morchella punctipes'' is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae native to North America. First described scientifically by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck in 1903, it is widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains The R ...

'' was reaffirmed for eastern North American half-free morels. ''M. semilibera'' and the other half-free morels are closely related to the black morels ('' M. elata'' and others). A proposal has been made to

conserve Conserve may refer to: * Conserve (condiment), a preserve made from a mixture of fruits or vegetables * Conserve (NGO), an Indian environmental organization * Conserve (publisher), a Dutch publisher * Conserved sequence, a protein or nucleic aci ...

the name ''Morchella semilibera'' against several earlier

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

, including ''Phallus crassipes'', ''P. gigas'' and ''P. undosus''. These names, sanctioned by

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired ...

, have since been shown to be the same species as ''M. semilibera''.

References

External links

* * * semilibera Edible fungi Fungi described in 1805 Fungi of Asia Fungi of Europe Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle {{Pezizomycetes-stub