ASCOMYCETE OF THE DAY - The HALF-FREE MOREL......The photo on top is from MushroomExpert, and we are now calling this MORCHELLA PUNCTIPES, the eastern half-free morel. The photo on the lower left is by Ben Woo, and I assume this is the northwestern half-free morel. The photo on the lower right is from Italy (all photos are from the Internet), and it is called Mitrophora semilibera. Forget the Mitrophora genus name, the point is that a schematic drawing of the basic differences between morels, half-free morels, and verpas would lump these 3 mushrooms together in a single species - Morchella semilibera. What DNA sequencing tells us, though, is that these 3 mushrooms are distinct species. The authentic Morchella semilibera is European. What we have in the northeastern U.S. is now being referred to as Pecks half-free morel, Morchella punctipes. The northwestern U.S. half-free morel is DNA distinct from these other two, and needs a name to reflect that. And that is how one mushroom, the half-free morel, becomes 3 or more distinct species. Theyre all edible (cooked), but maybe not all choice edibles, and this is how taxonomy progresses in the 21st Century.....
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:04:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015