Mushroom Monday: Morels

Mushroom Monday: Morels

This week’s Mushroom Monday mushroom is the marvelous morel (Morchella esculenta).

Morels are wild mushrooms that are not easily cultivated.  The fruit of them (the mushroom you see) can be found in the spring in woods and in areas where it is wet and warm.  Certain types can also be found in areas that previously had a fire, although why this is, isn’t completely understood.

Morels vary in size and in how they look.  Their caps can be golden/brown in color and their stems can be a yellowish white but this can vary.  They have a cap that resembles a sponge in appearance and are hollow on the inside from the stem up through the cap.  Although morels have a unique appearance, there are a number of mushrooms that look similar but are not actual morels.  These look-alike mushrooms can be poisonous.

Morels are a symbiotic and mycorrhizal mushroom.  Both they and the tree benefit from the morel being there (this makes them symbiotic).  In a basic sense, the morels get sugars from the tree roots of a tree they’re around and they provide nutrients to the tree (this makes them mycorrhizal).

Have you seen different types of mushrooms growing in your landscape?  If you have questions about them and how they are affecting your trees, consider contacting us for an arborist consultation.  The arborists at ArborTrue have a lot of knowledge about mushrooms and can give you information on what the mushrooms you see might mean for your trees.

If you are interested in learning more about different types of mushrooms, follow us on social media to keep up with Mushroom Monday.  Also keep up with our blog as we continue to post about them.  We currently have posts about Honey Fungus and Porcini mushrooms that you can read about.