Helvella solitaria P. Karst.
no common name
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
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Species Information
Summary:
Also listed in Morels etc. category. Features include a cup-shaped to bilobed fruitbody with gray-brown to dark brown upper surface; gray-brown, downy undersurface without ribs; whitish to gray-brown, downy stem that is highly ribbed; fruiting from April to October; and microscopic characters. The description below derived from Arora is for Helvella queletii (which he says has a longer stem than H. solitaria). Helvella queletii included as a synonym by Abbott.
Microscopic:
spores 17-21 x 11-13.5 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, colorless, with one droplet; asci 240-300 x 14-18 microns, pleurorhynchous; paraphyses 7-8 microns wide at tip, end cell 89-144 microns long, "clavate, brown, contents finely granular", (Abbott), spores (17)19-22 x 11-14 microns, elliptic to oblong, smooth, with large central oil droplet, (Arora)
Notes:
Collections of H. solitaria were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, and also the Northwest Territories, AB, MB, SK, AK, NY, WY, Norway, Finland, and Romania, and it has been reported from eastern North America and Europe, (Abbott). It has also been recorded from CA and CO, (Larsen).
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Helvella costifera is similar in color but has more prominent ribbing on the stem and the underside of the cap and a relatively broader stem, (Abbott). Helvella leucomelaena has aporhynchous asci and larger spores, (Abbott). H. leucomelaena has a less distinct stem that is often buried until maturity and the species differs microscopically, (Arora). Helvella cupuliformis never attains a large size, has an unpigmented stem, and lacks prominent ribbing on the stem with the ribs always absent from the base of the excipulum, (Abbott). Helvella fibrosa (as H. chinensis) never achieves large size, lacks prominent ribbing on stem and has slightly narrower spores, (Abbott).Habitat
single or often gregarious to numerous and scattered on ground in soil or litter in coniferous, mixed, or occasionally hardwood woods, April to October, (Abbott), single, scattered or in small groups in forest humus or occasionally on rotting wood, usually under hardwoods, late spring and summer, but in California may fruit in winter and early spring, (Arora)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Tulostoma campestre Morgan
Tulostoma punctilabratum Long