Morchella importuna
Mycologia 104(5): 1172. 2012.
Common Name: morel
For description see Kuo et al., MushroomExpert.com, & Siegel & Schwarz.
Solitary to scattered to gregarious landscaped urban areas, disturbed areas, and woodchip piles; spring.
Edible and excellent. All morels should be well cooked.
Morchella importuna can be distinguished by its regularly laddered, vertically oriented pits and ridges, urban habitat in landscaping areas, planters, woodchip beds and gardens, and dark colors in age. Primarily in western North America. Morchella rufobrunnea is found in similar habitats, but is colored pallid dingy-cream to pale grey to greyish-brown becoming yellowish-brown in age, the ridges usually lighter than the pits, and the pits often slowly staining orange-red when bruised or in age.
Kuo, M., Dewsbury, D.R., O'Donnell, K., Carter, M.C., Rehner, S.A., Moore, J.D., Moncalvo, J.-M. , Canfield, S.A., Stephenson, S.L., Methven, A.S. & Volk, T.J. (2012). Taxonomic revision of true morels (Morchella) in Canada and the United States. Mycologia 104(5): 1159-1177. (Protologue-PDF)
Pilz, D., McLain, R., Alexander, S., Villarreal-Ruiz, L., Berch, S.M., Wurtz, T.L., Parks, C.G., McFarlane, E., Baker, B., Molina, R. & Smith, J.E. (2007). Ecology and Management of Morels Harvested from the Forests of Western North America. Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest Service, USDA: Portland, OR. 161 p. (PDF)
Richard, F., Bellanger, J.-M., Clowez, P., Hansen, K., O’Donnell, K., Urban, A., Sauve, M., Courtecuisse, R. & Moreau, P.-A. (2015). True morels (Morchella, Pezizales) of Europe and North America: evolutionary relationships inferred from multilocus data and a unified taxonomy. Mycologia 107(2): 359-382. (PDF)
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
