Order Hymenojjycetes. Tribe Mitrati} 



Plate XIII. 



MORCHELLA ESCULENTA, i>fc... 



Gen. Char. Keceptacle campanulate and free, or conico-globose and adnate. Hymenium costato-reticulate, 

 celluloso-lacunose. Asci tubular, containing white or yellowisli simple spores. Name, from the German ' nwrclieV 



Spec. Char. M. esculenta ; receptacle ovate or globose, adnate at the base ; ribs firm, irregular, anastomosing 

 at various angles, forming deep wrinkled cells ; stem cylindrical, short, granulated, white or flesh-coloured ; spores 

 white. 



MoRCHELLA esculenta, Fries, Persoon, Tratt., BerTeeley, Greville, Rogues, Vittadini. 

 Phallus escidentus, Limueus, Bolt., Withering. 

 Helvella esculenta, Sowerby, Purton. 



Hub. In dry woods and gardens throughout Eiu'ope ; imder elms, near hedges, particularly where charcoal 

 has been made. Spring. 



The Morel was formerly much used and esteemed in England, but of late years has dechned in public 

 favour ; it is, however, an excellent article of food, and in a fresh state may be ranked with the most dehcate 

 of the Fungus tribe. Li this coimtry the Morel is far from common, in fact, so httle known, that it has 

 been mistaken for the Truffle ! probably because they are often mentioned together in old cookery books, 

 for they do not at aU resemble each other ia external appearance or flavour. 



Krombholz says that he procured most of the Morels, which he has described in great variety of form 

 and colour, from gardens and pine woods, among the fallen leaves and moss. The Scotch Fir, Pinus 

 sylmstris, is a great patron of Funguses in general, and under its guardian shade we found Morels in Kent, 

 in May, 18-17. Very splendid specimens appeared simultaneously in the gardens at Wickham Court, and 

 at Hartwell near Aylesbury, ten days after warm thunder-rains. A favourite site for them is between the 

 grass-plot and gravel walks ; at this point of junction they fi'equently emerge, the soil being there less 

 tenacious, and perhaps the flue sand washed from the gravel favours their growth ; which will reconcile the 

 statements of two differing authorities, one of whom cites ' clay,' the other ' sand,' as their chosen habitat ; 

 a loose upper surface and heavy sub-soil wiU explain tliis contradiction. It is very certain that by slightly 

 burning the surface of stumps of the Cob-nut tree, the Itahans produce a dehcate Fungus {Tolyporus 

 corylinus)^ and in the March of Brandenbm'gh "the industry of many women has gone so far as to set fire 

 to the woods, in order to get a rich and valuable harvest of Morels".^ Why a process so fatal to vegetable 

 life in general should produce this result, may be accounted for on the supposition that the wood, under- 

 going a process to a certain degree destructive to its own vitaHty, is thereby rendered a quiescent nourisher 

 of the parasite. There is, however, another cause for the Morel flourisliing where woods have been burned, 

 more plausible than any good effect of the charcoal itself ; we have remarked that it forces its hollow globular 

 head most readily through the edges of turf and walks, where it meets comparatively httle resistance, and it 

 is evident that the tangled roots of grass and sylvan plants, must grievously impede the upward growth of a 

 soft mass three or four inches in diameter ; the action of fire, by leaving the ground bare of vegetation, may 

 therefore assist the developement of the Morel which is lying below the surface, the charred wood having 

 no direct influence in the matter. It is probably owing to this compression among roots and obstructions 

 of different kinds that the common Morel assumes forms so various and irregular ; it often appears lobed, 



' From mitra, a cap or bonnet. Eeceptacle buUate or campanulate, placed on a stem. Hjinenium superior. 

 2 Vide Badham's ' Esculent Funguses of England ', Frontispiece. ^ Krombholz. 



