English: Black morel.
Clades:
Morchellaceae.
Region:western North America, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington.
Habitat: non-burned montane forests.
MycologyFungus; fruit bodies up to 14 cm tall.
Cap: ridged, pitted. conical; yellow to tan, brown to black when mature or when dried; ± 4 to 8 cm tall, 3 to 5 cm; with pits and ridges, formed by the intersection of 16 to 22 primary vertical ridges and frequent shorter, secondary vertical ridges, with occasional sunken, horizontal ridges.
Stipes: pitted in maturity. The color of the morel is
Spores: ascospores are elliptical, smooth; ± 30 by 20 µm.
Asci: eight-spored, cylindrical; 225 to 300 by 7 to 32 µm.
Paraphyses: cylindrical, septate; 100 to 200 by 7 to 20 µm; tips variably shaped, rounded to club-shaped, to fuse-shaped; contents hyaline, translucent to faintly brownish in dilute potassium hydroxide.