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Species Information
Summary: {See also Elfin Saddle Table.} Features include 1) a brown to dark brown or grayish brown cap that is saddle-shaped to somewhat irregularly lobed (2-3 lobes) typically with a well-developed cleft between lobes, but with the opposite margins rolled up over the fertile surface when young, 2) a cap underside that is whitish and minutely hairy, 3) a whitish stem that is round to somewhat flattened in cross-section, and usually solid, 4) growth on ground in spring, and 5) broadly elliptic spores with large central oil droplet.
Collections were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, and AK, (Abbott), and CA (Castellano).
Cap: 1.5-5cm across, "saddle-shaped to somewhat irregularly lobed (with 2-3 lobes) when mature", typically with a well developed cleft between the lobes, "but opposite margins rolled up and over the fertile surface when young", margin unrolling and often flaring when old, free from stem; brown to dark brown or grayish brown; smooth, (Arora), cap 0.4-1.9cm across, 0.3-2cm high, irregularly lobed, margin strongly inrolled at first, often remaining somewhat inrolled when mature, free from stem; when dry dark brown; smooth, (Abbott), cap in face view to 1.8-3cm wide by 2-3(4)cm high by 0.7-1.3(2.5)cm thick, when young with margin curved over upper surface and obscuring it, gradually expanding, finally 2(-3) prominent lobes usually separated by a sharp cleft, at maturity compressed; dark gray-brown; even, (Castellano), 1.5-3.5cm across, 1.5-5cm high, "saddle-shaped to trilobate with ascending lobes and narrow sinus", margin at first curved over the spore-bearing surface, gradually unrolling to flaring when old, free, entire or lacerate when old; medium to dark brown or grayish brown, (Weber), gray to brown (Trudell)
Flesh: thin, rather brittle, (Arora), pale gray (Trudell)
Underside: white or cream to grayish white; minutely hairy, (Arora), when dry cream to pale gray brown; densely pubescent to villose, (Abbott), ivory to off-white; densely and persistently villose, even, (Castellano), typically free of stem; white to pale cream; "pubescent to villose, the vesture persisting at maturity, even", (Weber)
Stem: 3-10cm x 0.3-1.2(1.7)cm, equal or wider in lower part, "round or somewhat flattened in cross-section, but not chambered"; white to pale cream; smooth or finely downy, not ribbed, base sometimes pitted, (Arora), 0.5-5cm x 0.1-0.6cm, "enlarged at base to nearly equal", typically tapered at top, solid or rarely hollow in large specimens, round in cross-section or fluted at base; when dry cream to pale yellow-brown; pubescent to villose, especially at top, (Abbott), 1.5-12cm x 0.3-1cm, basically round in cross-section, equal to narrowing toward top; ivory to cream or off-white, (Castellano), 3-8cm x 0.3-1.7cm, equal or widening downward, round in cross-section to compressed or pitted near base; white to pale cream; finely pubescent, (Weber)
Microscopic: spores 19.7-23.8 x 11.4-14.8 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, with large central round to broadly elliptic oil droplet; asci 280-349 x 15.2-22.0 microns, cylindric, tapered to base, colorless, pleurorhynchous; paraphyses 4.3-8.6 microns wide at tip, clavate, enlarged gradually to tip, "pale brown to brown in mass, contents finely granular", (Abbott), spores 19-22(25) x 12-15 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, with large central oil droplet, (Arora); spores 19.5-21 x 12-14 microns, elliptic; asci 8-spored, inamyloid, thin-walled, (Castellano), spores 19.5-21 x 12-14 microns, rounded oblong to broadly elliptic, smooth, with a large central oil droplet as revived in water; asci 8-spored, (250)330-375 x 16-17.5 microns, pleurorhynchous [with a lateral beak or snout]; paraphyses clavate, clava 6-9 microns wide, 3-5 microns broad near the base, branching and anastomosing in lower half, colorless to pale brown in KOH, (Weber)
Habitat / Range
single, gregarious, subcespitose [somewhat tufted], or scattered and numerous "on soil or litter, rarely with burnt woody debris, in coniferous or infrequently in mixed or deciduous woods", March 9 to December 25 in coastal WA, April to June collections common, (Abbott), single to gregarious "on ground in woods and at their edges, under trees, etc.", (Arora), on soil in low to mid-elevation, mixed woods often including Pseudotsuga menziesii or Quercus spp. and which may be subject to low levels of occasional disturbance, March through July, (Castellano), scattered to gregarious in duff under redwoods, oaks and various pines, in spring, (Weber)
Similar Species
Helvella latispora is lighter in the color of the upper surface, the underside is "finely pubescent to pubescent" rather than "densely pubescent to villose", and the RANGE of collections examined only overlaps in ID, H. latispora being the eastern species, (Abbott). Helvella albella has finely pubescent to pubescent cap underside, (as opposed to villose for H. compressa), (Abbott). Helvella elastica has the cap margin bent down (rather than inrolled upward initially), the stem is hollow, and the underside is bald, (Abbott).
