Morels (Verpa Bohemica)

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Hola, setero! Today I have some solid visual pleasures for you: morels!

The pictures are not of great quality and no hi-res, cause not my macro lens produced it this time but a friend's smartphone... anyway: I applied some Photoshop magic to them, and hope you like it, as I did.

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As you can see in this pics, morels are hard to find, especially when they are small, young and fresh. And Verpa Bohemica maybe is the hardest-to-find of them all: cause more typically they prefer to hide, and cause they apper 'in a burst' for quite a small period of time from April to mid-May.

They become more visible as they mature and pop up above the dead leaves, but still, one may need to use a rake, to search for them! You may have a 10-km walk without finding a single copy -- complaining afterwards 'the forest is empty, no mushrooms out there!' -- and it will be not correct.

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This one was really impossible to notice before you stand on your knee and rake the leaves. One has to have a lot of luck and patience, hunting this mushroom.

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Thanks to their whimsical texture and color, they are super disguised. being a stone's throw from the mushroom, it is difficult to see it. You need to bow low to each mushroom, kneel and rake the foliage - only then you can find it (unless of course he grew up in this particular place!)

I said 'morels', but to be precise, the mushrooms in this post belong to the Verpa bohemica (Ша́почка сморчко́вая, aka Колпачо́к, aka Сморчо́к не́жный in Russian). (See the Synonims section below).

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Outlook / Внешность

Грибы имеют небольшую шляпку в форме колпачка (колокольчик, наперсток, конус) 2—4 см. Она еле держится за ножку у самой ее верхушки - в отличие от сморчков, где шляпка плотно прилегает к ножке). Ее цвет сперва - бурый или шоколадный, и желтовато-охристый в зрелом возрасте.
Its most distinct feature is a small 2–4 cm cone (bell, thimble)-shaped cap. The cap is put on the leg in a very very loose way, almost freely (not like the morels has it: their cap fits snugly to the leg). Fresh mushrooms have brown or chocolate cap, matured shrooms have it yellowish-buff.
Гриб имеет гладкую, длинную, цилиндрическую ножку, обычно изогнутую. У молодых грибов ножка цельная, заполненная внутри ватообразной мякотью; у зрелых грибов — полая. Цвет ножки также меняется: вначале она бело-желтоватая, у зрелых грибов охряная. Плодовое тело гриба очень ломкое, восковидное, молодой гриб имеет очень вкусный специфический запах.
Its leg is smooth, long, cylindrical, usually curved. Fresh mushrooms has it filled inside with cotton-like pulp; mature mushrooms has it hollowed. Leg's color also changes in time, from white-yellowish in the beginning to ocher and yellowish in mature mushrooms. The fruit body of the mushroom is very brittle and waxy. Young mushrooms has a very tasty specific smell. Sources state that it dont have a great distinctive taste.

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On the photos they always look bigger, then they are in reality.

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Where and when / Где и когда

Гриб растет с апреля по май и широко распространён в умеренной зоне Северного полушария, не переносит низкой влажности и в сухую погоду быстро засыхает на корню. При благоприятных условиях, растет большими семьями по 50—60 грибов. Если нашли один гриб, стоит поискать остальных членов семейства.
Verpa grow from April to mid-May. It is wide-spread in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, does not tolerate low humidity and quickly dries in the vine if the weather is dry. A large families of 50-60 mushrooms usually grow under favorable conditions. This means, if you notice one mushroom, you should certainly look for the rest of the family :P

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Can be found... / Где их искать

Они предпочитают лиственных леса (любят осины, липы и берёзы), подтопленные бедные суглинистые почвы, часто встречаются в низинах, вдоль ручьёв и канав с водой.
Verpa Bohemica strongly prefer deciduous forests (like aspen, linden and birch), love flooded poor loamy soils; often can be found at lowlands and along streams, ditches and water pits.

Synonims / Синонимы

The more or less relatives are: Morels and Gyromitra esculenta (False Morels).

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[#src]
You may check the recent @bambuka's post with more pictures.
And I found a good info about it here, in Russian. NB. The question of its edibility does not a simple 'yes or no answer'. It can be poisonous growing in more warm areals, but the copies that appeared more to the north under colder temperatures, are quite edible. But my post is not about the Gyromitra esculenta.

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Morels look a lot the same, they have the same "brainy" cap (for the differencies, check the descr. part above).


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Now, its time to part ways, I wish you good luck --
and Good Hunting!

Happy Fungi Friday!



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18 comments
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They are all freaking awesome.. whatever the name.

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You really know your mushrooms, eh? You probably know as much about mushrooms as I know about Metal bands! 😂

Great article and shots! Thanks for putting this piece together.

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Hmm here's a good genre medium between mushrooms and heavy metal

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hmmm... I checked it briefly, and to my humble opinion, better not to mix those two fractions :))) (but, agree, those shroomheads have planted some strong visuals!)

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Perhaps this one is more suitable for the mushroom genre, at least the cover art anyway.

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Wow amazing finds. I wasn't able to find any verpas this year. Last year I almost accidentally ate one until i did a cross-section and saw how the top didn't attach to the stem. They seem to have more of a translucent look to them compared to true morels as well.

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translucent look! that is amazing.. as much I have read yesterday, there are harder to find, -- in all senses... mostly due to they happen for a short burst period of time... and ofc -- a good hiding technique :P

also, my sours says, their taste is not that great, so, practically there is no sense to invest too many efforts to search and harvest them

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Hello @qwerrie!
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Очень красивые фотографии!
И грибы прелесть! :-)))

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Fungi are so interesting, so much to learn about these odd formed life forms that we know so little about. Thanks for sharing such an interesting find.

!tip

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Whimsical indeed! @qwerrie 🍄🍂🐌🍂🍄🍄

You did a brilliant job photographing the Cerpa bohemica along with providing a wealth of information! I feel lucky when I see two or three common fungi growing in the soil. Your "hidden gems" were quite an incredible discovery!

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