Helvella crispa Scop.: Fr.
fluted white helvella
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
fluted white helvella
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
{See also Elfin Saddle Table.} Features include 1) a whitish cap that is irregularly lobed or occasionally 2-lobed, the margin remaining free of the stem, 2) a cap underside that is downy and slightly darker than the upper surface, 3) a stem that is whitish, highly ribbed, internally chambered, and often having holes, 4) growth on ground mostly in summer and fall, and 5) broadly elliptic spores with a large central droplet.
Odor:
mushroomy (Lincoff(1)), mild (Miller)
Taste:
mushroomy (Lincoff(1))
Microscopic:
spores 16.5-20.6 x 10-13 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, colorless, with one droplet; asci 225 x 14.4-17 microns; paraphyses 5.8-8 microns at tip, apical cell 14-37 microns long, clavate, widened gradually or abruptly at tip, colorless, contents finely granular, (Abbott), spores (14)17-21(24) x 10-14 microns, elliptic or oblong, smooth, with a large central oil droplet, (Arora)
Notes:
Collections were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, MB, NWT, ON, PQ, SK, YT, AK, MN, NM, OH, Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, (Abbott). The RANGE includes the east coast of North America, AZ, CA, CO, and the Pacific Northwest, (Lincoff(2)).
EDIBILITY
to be avoided (Arora), edible but causes gastric upset in some people (Phillips)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Helvella lactea is bald on the underside of the cap, (Arora). Helvella maculata has a brown cap, and Helvella vespertina a gray or black cap: pallid specimens of the latter occur, but have a partially attached rather than a free cap margin, (Arora using the name H. lacunosa for H. vespertina). H. lacunosa in its pale forms may be somewhat similar but has a bald cap underside and different marginal curvature, (Weber, referring to H. lacunosa covering H. vespertina and likely other species).Habitat
single, gregarious, or scattered on soil and litter in hardwood or mixed woods, from July 11 in AB to November 15 in WA, (Abbott), single to gregarious on ground or very rotten wood under both hardwoods and conifers, (Arora), July to October, (December to April in CA), (Phillips), on ground in both hardwood and coniferous forests, (or in late-summer lawns near planted conifers), late July to mid-October in East, December-April in Southwest, September-October in Northwest, (Lincoff(2))