Morchella snyderi M. Kuo & Methven
Snyder's morel
Morchellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Snyder's morel
Morchellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
{See also Morels Table.} Features of Morchella snyderi are a conic cap with longitudinally arranged ridges and a trough at the point of attachment to the stem, the cap with pale yellowish colors when young, but ridges becoming smoky brown to black, stem often prominently lacunose and ridged throughout most of development, stem surface prominently granulated, growth under conifers, and relatively large spores. According to Beug(3) the fungus "can have the coloring of a yellow morel, or can be gray, tan, reddish brown, or greenish" and the color of ridges "varies from only slightly darkening to jet-black in age". The description is derived from Kuo(6) except where noted.
Microscopic:
spores 25-37 x 15-23 microns, elliptic, smooth, contents homogenous; asci 8-spored, 225-300 x 17.5-32.5 microns, cylindric, colorless in 2% KOH; paraphyses 100-200 x 7.5-20 microns, cylindric, tips "rounded to subclavate, clavate, or occasionally subcapitate or widely fusiform", septate, colorless to faintly brownish in 2% KOH; elements on sterile ridges 75-175 x 10-20 microns, septate, "terminal cell subclavate, clavate, subcapitate or widely fusiform", with colorless to brownish contents in 2% KOH
Notes:
Collections were examined from WA, OR, ID, CA, MT, (Kuo(6)), also in BC (M. Beug, pers. comm.)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Morchella brunnea M. Kuo, another ''natural black'', 1) has a more brown cap when young whereas M. snyderi tends to be pale when young, 2) has a stem that is not regularly lacunose, (Kuo(2)), 3) has a more distinct sinus between cap and stem, 4) has a more slender stem with flesh that is thinner and crushes more easily, 5) is less common and prefers hardwood habitat, and 6) grows scattered not clustered, (Michael Beug, pers. comm.). Morchella frustrata lacks a conspicuously lacunose stem, its pits are bald, and spores average smaller, (Kuo(6)). See also SIMILAR section of Morchella tridentina.Habitat
under non-burned, montane conifers, including Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine), and Abies concolor (White Fir); April, May, and early June, (Kuo(6)), found also in landscape bark mulch (McCotter), typically in clusters of 2-20 (M. Beug, pers. comm.)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Athelia tessulata (Cooke) Donk
Corticium tessulatum Cooke