Gyromitra esculenta (Pers.: Fr.) Fr.
false morel
Discinaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
false morel
Discinaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Features include very convoluted, yellow brown to red brown, purple brown or dark brown cap, slightly grooved stem that is whitish to cap-colored, and fruiting in spring. |Despite its name, Gyromitra esculenta can be very poisonous when eaten raw, although toxicity varies with the individual, and certain individuals who have eaten Gyromitra mushrooms without effect have had severe reactions on another exposure. In a 1967 report of 513 cases of this kind of poisoning, 14% were fatal. Gyromitra esculenta contains hydrazones such as gyromitrin with chemical name N-methyl-N-formylhydrazone acetaldehyde, which is metabolized to what appear to be the major toxin, monomethylhydrazine (that has been used as a rocket fuel). Much but not all of this becomes a vapor during cooking and can be poisonous as vapor. (Benjamin). |Poisoning starts between 2 and 24 hours and may start with vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and headache. Sometimes there is fever. Liver toxicity occurs about 36-48 hours, and then neurological symptoms including seizures and coma. Sometimes there is intravascular hemolysis, kidney failure, or methemoglobinemia. With lower doses, there is still concern that these mushrooms are carcinogenic. (Benjamin).
Odor:
mild (Ammirati(11))
Taste:
mild (Ammirati(11))
Microscopic:
spores 16.7-23.4 x 7.3-9.4 microns, elliptic, smooth, 8 spores per ascus, (Ammirati(11)), spores (17)19.1-28 x 10-13.1(14) microns, elliptic to subfusoid (somewhat spindle-shaped), smooth, with 2 droplets, apiculus absent or apices slightly thickened to 1 micron; asci 180-220 x 15-17 microns; paraphyses 2-9(10) microns diameter at apex, clavate, gradually enlarging or abruptly swollen, pale brown, brown in mass, contents granular, apical cell 39-77 microns long, (Abbott)
Spore Deposit:
white to ochraceous (Abbott)
Notes:
Collections of Gyromitra esculenta were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, and also AB, MB, ON, PQ, YT, AK, WY, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden (Abbott). Desjardin(6) illustrated it from CA. It is also reported from Asia (Abbott).
EDIBILITY
dangerously poisonous (Arora), has caused serious acute poisonings in Washington, Montana and British Columbia resulting in severe liver damage, (M. Beug, pers. comm.)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Gyromitra infula and Gyromitra ambigua are somewhat similar but G. esculenta is more convoluted, fruits in spring and differs microscopically. Gyromitra montana has an irregular hollow stem with several internal anastomosing channels, whereas the hollow stem of Gyromitra esculenta is more or less round in cross-section, typically with one internal channel, or sometimes somewhat flattened with two internal channels. See also SIMILAR section of Gyromitra columbiana.Habitat
single, gregarious, subcespitose [somewhat tufted], or scattered on ground in soil, litter, woody debris, occasionally on well-rotted wood or burnt debris, under conifers or in mixed woods, in spring, (Abbott), typically found with conifers, especially pine, but has also been reported with aspen, (Ammirati(11)), March to May, (Phillips), on ground in disturbed or undisturbed mixed conifer and hardwood forests and occasionally in urban lawns, (Castellano), "associated with conifers and hardwoods and may be found on soil or rotten wood"; spring or early summer, (Trudell)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Boletus rainisiae "Bessette & O.K. Mill. [as 'rainisii'],"
Cyanoboletus rainisiae "(Bessette & O.K. Mill.) Gelardi, Vizzini &"