''Morchella punctipes'' is a species of morel

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

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 tha ...

. It is native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, found widely distributed east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. It is

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from " eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

when cooked.

Taxonomy

''Morchella punctipes'' was first found in Michigan and described scientifically by American mycologist

Charles Horton Peck Charles Horton Peck (March 30, 1833 – July 11, 1917) was an American mycologist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the New York State Botanist from 1867 to 1915, a period in which he described over 2,700 species of North American fu ...

in 1903. It was once thought that ''M. punctipes'' was the same species as '' M. semilibera'', but this was disproven via

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

studies.

Description

The

fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

of ''M. punctipes'' are tall. The

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

is tall and wide with a shape that is glabrous, conical, or occasionally almost convex. It has ridges bordering round, vertical pits. The ridges are pale yellow to dull yellowish brown when young; they darken to brown, dark brown, or black with maturity. The pits are whitish to pale yellowish when immature, darkening to brownish to yellowish brown with maturity. The caps attach to the stipe in a skirt-like manner, roughly halfway from the apex. The stipe grows to be tall and wide. It is equal, fragile, and white to whitish or watery brownish in color. The surface of the stipe can have shallow, longitudinal grooves, and typically features white, mealy granules. The inside of the stipe is hollow and can have chambers near the bulbous base. When young, the stipe is short and can be hidden by the cap, but it gains significant length with age.

Microscopic characteristics

The

ascospores In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse division of fungi. After two parental nuclei fuse, the ascus undergoes meiosis (halving of ...

are elliptical and smooth with homogenous contents. They are 20–27 x (10–)14–18

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

in size and whitish to bright yellowish orange in deposit. Asci eight-spored; 175–350 x 15–25 μm; cylindrical; hyaline. The paraphyses are cylindrical with rounded, subcapitate, clavate, mucronate or irregularly inflated apices; septate; hyaline in KOH (2%); 120–275 x 10–22 μm. Elements on sterile ridges 50–100 x 10–25 μm; septate; tightly packed in an even layer; brownish in KOH (2%); terminal cell broadly clavate to sub-rectangular with a flattened to broadly rounded or submucronate apex.

Similar species

''M. punctipes'' is similar to '' G. gigas'' and ''M. rimosipes'', but unlike the two, its cap is freely attached to the stipe. ''M. punctipes'' is one of three species of fungi commonly referred to as half-free morels, the others being '' M. populiphila'' in western North America and '' M. semilibera'' in Europe, the latter having smaller spores than ''M. punctipes''. Additional lookalikes may include other ''Morchella'' species, as well as ''

Verpa bohemica ''Verpa bohemica'' is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. The synonym ''Ptychoverpa bohemica'' is often used by European mycologists and it is commonly known as the early morel or the wrinkled thimble-cap. The mushroom has a pale ye ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to eastern

and is commonly found east of the

. The mushrooms are found in hardwood forests, often where white ash,

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. The trees can live for several hundred years. It is a very hardy species that can ...

, and American tulip trees grow. Fruit bodies appear around late March in southern areas to late May in northern areas.

Uses

It is an

species with a mild flavor but, like all morels, specimens need to be cooked before being consumed.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3323815 punctipes Edible fungi Fungi described in 1903 Fungi of North America Fungus species