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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339313
Title: Which morel is this?

Author
item VOITK, ANDRUS - Foray Newfoundland & Labrador
item BURZYNSKI, MICHAEL - Foray Newfoundland & Labrador
item O Donnell, Kerry

Submitted to: Omphalina
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/28/2016
Publication Date: 3/21/2017
Citation: Voitk, A., Burzynski, M., O'Donnell, K. 2017. Which morel is this? Omphalina. 8:14-15.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Two novel species of the highly prized true morels (Morchella) from the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador were recently described as M. laurentiana and M. eohespera employing morphological and molecular phylogenetic data (Mycologia 108:31-37. 2016). Herein, we report on our discovery, based on several collections made during spring 2016 that characteristics of the morel cap and stem used to distinguish these two species in the aforementioned publication are unreliable. However, our detailed morphological study of these species, which are easily separated using DNA sequence data, revealed that M. eohespera can be distinguished easily from M. laurentiana by the production of club-shaped cells in the cap's ridges and the presence of spaces three or more cells wide separating the black ridges (i.e., crypts). By way of contrast, club-shaped cells are absent from the ridges in M. laurentiana and the crypts usually are between 1-to-3 cells wide.