False Morel

Gyromitra esculenta

Coniferous and mixed forests, especially pine forests. Spring.

Fruiting bodies massive. Cap 5-15 cm across, shapeless, convolutedly wrinkled, hollow, light or dark brown, chestnut-coloured, sometimes yellowish. Stem (3–8x2–3 cm) short, thick, white, yellowish, greyish, brown when old. Flesh fragile, with a pleasant smell and taste. Characteristic features: grows only in pine and spruce forests, in April–May. Appears singly or in groups, sometimes quite abundantly, favouring bright places – clearings, roadsides, felling sites, burnt areas. Common. Conditionally poisonous, although it is still gathered and eaten. There is no consensus about its use as food; for example, in Canada and Finland it is eaten without restriction, and dried ones are even bought up from Lithuania. Nevertheless, it should not be eaten.