Prof. Peck records this species as edible, and recommends it as having tender flesh and an agreeable flavor. It sometimes grows in profusion in wet mossy places, in woods, or swampy ground. It is bright yellow in color, clean and attractive. The cap is much longer than the stem, often deeply lobed, extremely irregular in outline, and tapers to a short yellowish or whitish stem. The spores are narrowly elliptical and transparent. The specimen illustrated is from a small one figured by Peck. The plants sometimes reach two inches in height. They are most abundant in temperate climates.
Plate D.
In Plate D are represented four species of the genus Morchella, viz., M. semilibera, M. bispora, M. conica, and M. deliciosa. Morchella esculenta is figured in [Plate C].
Fig. 1. Morchella semilibera De Candolle. "Half Free Morel."
Edible.
Cap conical but half free from the stem as the name of the species indicates. The ribs are longitudinal, forming oblong pits; stem hollow, much longer than the cap, white; spores elliptical. Peck says that this species has been described by Persoon under the name Morchella hybrida, and this name is adopted in Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum, but most English writers prefer the first.
Fig. 2. Sectional view of Morchella semilibera.
Fig. 8. Sporidia of same inclosed in ascus with accompanying paraphyses.