Helvellaceae 



comb, and are whitish, or grayish or brownish. The stem is about J a Morcheiia. 

 in. in diameter. It is an easily recognized species. Edible. Choice. 

 Total nitrogen, according to Lafayette B. Mendel, 4.66 per cent. 



M. cras'sipes Pers. crassus, thick; pes, a foot. Agreeing with M, 

 esculenta in having the pits of the pileus irregular in form, not much, 

 if at all, longer than broad, and in not having a main series of more or 

 less parallel and vertical ribs ; differing in the stout stem being much 

 longer than the pileus. Massee. 



Attains a height of 9 in. or more. 



Not rare in May. Kansas, Cragin; Minnesota, Johnson. 



Esculent. Cooke. 



M. delicio'sa Fr. The Delicious morell is easily known by the shape 

 of its cap, which is cylindrical or nearly so. Sometimes it is slightly 

 narrowed toward the top and occasionally curved, as in the preceding 

 species, but its long narrow shape and blunt apex is quite strongly con- 

 trasted with that species. It is usually two or three times as long as it 

 is broad, and generally it is longer than the stem. Specimens also oc- 

 cur in which the cap is slightly more narrow in the middle than it is 

 above and below, and rarely it is slightly pointed at the apex. The 

 pits on its surface are rather narrow and mostly longer than broad. The 

 stem is often rather short. 



The plant varies from 1*2-3 m - high. Peck, 48th Rep. N. Y. State 

 Bot. 



Its name gives it esculent properties. 



M. COn'ica Pers. conical. The Conical morell has the cap conical 

 or oblong-conical, as its name indicates. The longitudinal ridges on 

 its surface run more regularly from top to base than in the Common 

 morell. They are connected by short transverse ridges which are so 

 distant from each other or so incomplete that the resulting pits or de- 

 pressions are generally longer than broad, and sometimes rather irregu- 

 lar. The color in the young plant is a beautiful buff-yellow or very 

 pale ochraceous, but it becomes darker with age. 



The plants are generally 35 in. high, with the cap 1/^2 in. thick 

 in its broadest part, and distinctly broader than the stem. Peck, 48th 

 Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Kansas; California; Rhode Island ; Ohio, Lloyd; New York; Indiana, 



543 



