Wrinkled Thimble-cap / Early False Morel

Verpa bohemica

Deciduous forests, parks, wooded slopes. Spring.

Fruiting bodies medium-sized. Cap 2—3 cm tall and 2—4 cm across, bell-shaped, irregularly longitudinally wrinkled in a convoluted way, yellowish-brown, when old dark brown, margins free. Stem 7-12x1.5-3 cm, whitish, pale yellowish-brown, smooth, faintly fibrous. Flesh whitish, thin, brittle. Characteristic features: cap wrinkled in a convoluted way, its margins flared, not attached to the stem; flesh yellowish, with a pleasant smell and taste. Grows singly or in groups on river slopes; likes humus-rich soil and the company of aspen. Edible. Uncommon. Listed in the Red Data Book of Lithuania.