Summary:
Features include 1) an ocher-brown to darker brown or reddish brown, bluntly conic to bell-shaped cap that is attached to the stem only at the top, the cap surface smooth to slightly wrinkled, 2) a more or less equal stuffed stem that is whitish, often roughened by small orangish to brownish granules that may form transverse belts or ribs, 3) fruiting on ground in spring, and 4) large spores in 8-spored asci. It is probably that there is than one species going under this name in the Pacific Northwest.

Odor:
pleasant (Phillips), slight (Lincoff(1))

Taste:
pleasant (Phillips), slight (Lincoff(1))

Microscopic:
spores 28-34 x 15-19 microns, (Tylutki), spores 30-33 x 17-19 (R. Sieger, pers. comm. measured from eastern Washington), spores (20)22-30(34) x 12-17(19) microns, elliptic, smooth, without oil droplets; asci 8-spored, (Arora), spores (17)20-25 x 11-15 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, colorless, sometimes with droplets on the ends (outside the spore wall); asci 8-spored, 250-350 x 18-23 microns, not blue with iodine; paraphyses septate, with slight clavate widening to 12 microns, branched near bases, (Breitenbach), spores 21-26 x 11-16 microns (Bessette)

Spore Deposit:
yellow (Phillips)

Notes:
Verpa conica has been found throughout eastern North America, and also in the Pacific Northwest, CO, and CA (Lincoff(2)). It is found in Switzerland (Breitenbach - rare). Collections from BC are deposited at Pacific Forestry Centre and the University of British Columbia. Collections from WA and OR are deposited at Oregon State University.

EDIBILITY

edible when cooked (Arora), Verpas are traditionally parboiled, with water discarded prior to final preparation, (Benjamin)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Gloeocystidiellum heterogeneum (Bourdot & Galzin) Donk
Peniophora heterogenea Bourdot & Galzin