Half-Free Morel

Mushroom Homepage, Mushroom Essentials, Mushroom Recipes, Morel Homepage, Black Morel, White Morel, Yellow Morel, Home
Half-free Morel (Morchella semilibera)

Mushroom Homepage, Mushroom Essentials, Mushroom Recipes, Morel Homepage, Black Morel, White Morel, Yellow Morel, Home, Back to the Top
Half-free Morel sculpture, acrylic paint
This morel has a conical cap 3/8 to 1-5/8 inches tall, and just as wide at its flaring base. Unlike other morels, only the top half of the cap attaches to the stalk, the rest hangs free.
Half-free Morel Note the relatively short cap and large pits, typical of this species.
Still, if you cut it lengthwise, a hollow cylinder extends from the top to the bottom of the mushroom. The irregular longitudinal ribs are brown to blackish, the pits are beige. The whitish, scruffy, faintly ribbed stalk is 3-1/4 to 4 inches long, 3/8 to 3/4 inches wide, with a thickened base. This mushroom grows in open hardwood forests throughout North America in the spring. Not as flavorful as other morel species, this one is still a good edible.