Black Morel, Morchella Angusticeps
Some also refer to this as Morchella elata or Morchella Conica. There may be a few sub species of this also. These are the earliest of the morels. They will begin to appear when you see mayapples popping up, or bloodroot in bud, as soon as the redbuds begin to bloom, (for help on flora just click) . First look on south facing slopes, this is where the sun warms things up the earliest. As time moves on, they will begin to pop up on hill tops, and even in the valleys. These can sometimes lead to a very large find. The spring of 1999, I was finding a few here and there, and was hiking up a short hill, when a gentle breeze blew over the hill and I caught a whiff of air that smelled like Morels. I even made a comment to my hunting partner, David W., and sure enough, we hit a thick fruiting of these and quickly filled our bags.
These tend to prefer a slightly more acid soil, liking oaks, and conifer woods. This is also a common find in burn areas in Canada. When they first appear, they are a brownish color, and continue to grow, and turn darker, almost black.When sliced open, they are completely hollow. Do not confuse these with the Half Free Morel, or spike. These are brownish to near black also, but the head is much smaller than the stem, and the cap is attached about halfway up instead of at the base. Both are delicious. This past spring, I hit an area that contained evry common species of Morels at the same time, which is very rare, but generally speaking, the Black Morel is about two weeks before the Grey Morel, three weeks before the Half Free Morel, and about three to four weeks before the Yellow Morel. The only other thing close to these that fruit about the same time is Verpa Bohemica, or Wrincled Thimble-Cap, which is a false Morel. Edibility on this is favored by some, others warn, or say eat with cation. Never eat raw, or consume much alcoholic beverages when eating Morels.
Size on these varies from 2" up to about 8" when fully mature in good conditions.
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