REPORT Of THE STATE BOTANIST 



223 



are generally longer than broad, and sometimes rather irregular. 

 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 three to five inches high, with the cap 

 one and a half to two inches thick in its broadest part, and dis- 

 tinctly broader than the stem. 



This is similar to the Common morel in its esculent qualities 

 and is generally admitted by writers to be an excellent food and 

 of delicate flavor. It has been regarded by some as a mere 

 variety of the preceding species. Both may be found growing on 

 either sandy, gravelly or clayey soils. 



Morchella angusticeps Peck. 

 Narrow cap Morel. 



Plate 4. Figs. 5 to 9. 



The Narrow cap morel differs from the Conical morel in its 

 generally smaller size, more pointed cap and comparatively 

 thicker stem. Generally the cap is scarcely thicker than the 

 stem, even at its base, which is its broadest part. It is long and 

 narrow and sometimes curved. In some specimens the stem is 

 widest at the top and gradually tapers toward the base as shown 

 in figure 5. 



The plants are commonly two to three inches high, with the 

 cap generally less than an inch broad in its widest part, but some- 

 times much larger specimens occur. 



Morchella deliciosa Fr. 



Delicious Morel. 



Plate 3. Figs. 4 to 7. 



The Delicious morel is easily known by the shape of its cap, 

 which is cylindrical or nearly so. (Sometimes it is slightly nar- 

 rowed toward the top and occasionally curved, as in the preced- 

 ing species, but its long narrow shape and blunt apex is quite 

 strongly contrasted 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 occur in which the cap is slightly more nar- 

 row 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. 



