Helvella queletii Bres.
Rev. Mycol. (Paris) 4:211. 1822.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Cap 2-6 cm broad, cup-shaped when young, becoming elongate-cupulate or saucer-like in age; margin wavy, often torn at maturity; incurved (toward the center) when young, sometimes recurved in age; inner fertile surface dry, dull, dark greyish-brown with scattered minute hairs; outer surface sterile, subpubescent, colored like the fertile layer when moist, but appearing lighter when dry; context thin, white, brittle; odor sharp, unpleasant, like that of a mouse cage; taste similar, unpleasant; stipe 1-5 cm long, 0.7-1.5 cm broad, equal to narrowed at the apex; surface pallid to white, more or less glabrous, conspicuously ribbed, fused to the base of the cup.

• Spores

  Spores 17.5-20 x 10.5-13.5 µm, elliptical, smooth, nonamyloid, with a large oil droplet, hyaline in KOH; spores hyaline.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered in open areas under hardwoods; fruiting during the spring.

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  This is another in a group of inconspicuous spring-fruiting Helvellas. Helvella queletii resembles H. acetabulum, but the stipe ribs fuse at the base of the cup rather than extending upwards to the margin.

• References

  Abbott, S.O. & Currah, R.S. (1997). The Helvellaceae: Systematic revision and occurrence in northern and northwestern North America. Mycotaxon 62: 1-125.
  Kempton, P.E. & Wells, V.L. (1970). Studies on the Fleshy Fungi of Alaska. IV. A Preliminary Account of the Genus Helvella. Mycologia 62(5): 940-959.
  Weber, N.S. (1972). The Genus Helvella in Michigan. Michigan Botanist 11: 147-201.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Nathan Wilson: Helvella queletii (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Helvella queletii (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Helvella queletii (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 809 (D & P)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 1): sp. 18 (D, I, & CP)
  • Tylutki (1979): p. 80 (D & P)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)