Finding Black Morels – The Wild Mushroom Season Begins
This is the year of earliness – from the heat wave that hit us at the end of March (March!) to the apple blossoms opening at least two weeks ahead of schedule. I found the very first black morel on April 14.
Can you spot the morel in this picture?
Last year, itself on the early side, Bill found the first black morels on April 25th, but this year a prime indication – the fall of the forsythia flowers – suggested a look would be worthwhile, so off we went to a reliable spot, somewhat north of us but close to the river. No luck.
Indications there were more mixed: few wild columbines were blooming and the hepatica was still spotty. We only saw one in flower
Hepatica americana (aka H. nobilis var. obtusa and, just to make things interesting, Anemone americana or A. hepatica). Very cool little plant.
But one of the great things about walks in the second and third growth woods is the vast array of cultural artifacts left from the days when the land was open. Mushrooms may be lacking, but there’s always something to see.
Even after the cellar holes have filled in and the stone walls tumbled down, each spring uncovers bits of dishes, thick old bottles and horticultural hangers-on like clumps of refined hybrid narcissi, blooming away in the underbrush surrounded by barberries and poison ivy.
No morels, no problem. I’ll just photograph these. No tripod. Down on the knees. Multiple tries in hopes of one coming out not-too-shaky. Bill is calling, “time to go.”
“ Okay, honey, just one more,” I say, and then as I switch positions to get up. There it is.
Black Morel (Morchella elata/angusticeps/conica complex). This is the same picture, cropped to a close up of the rock just to the right of the narcissus clump
Sneaky bastards. Bill has written a black morel hunting guide that helps considerably, but missing more than you find just comes with the territory.
I didn’t step on it, but that’s not because I saw it before I put my foot down.
Hepatica in its more typical color, showing why the Doctrine of Signatures declared it good for curing liver ailments.
Hepatica flower and Leslie’s foot photos by Bill Bakaitis
Wonderful article–now I begin to have some idea what I’m actually looking at and for on our walks. And so delighted to learn of the “Doctrine of Signatures.”
Love the doctrine of signatures–years ago, used to research history of medicine in art, and learned something about it then.
Don’t know if we have morels in SE PA, though a friend in western MD says he finds them.