Morchella elata

A very cosmopolitan species that has been known by several names, such as Morchella hortensis, M. costata, or M. importuna (the latter corresponding to an American species). It can reach considerable dimensions, with a pileus (cap) up to 15 cm high, generally conical although occasionally more rounded. It is characterized by vertically aligned, strongly blackening primary ridges alongside numerous secondary ridges that develop transversely in ladder-like fashion. A common and widely distributed species within its genus, typically growing in urban or ruderal sites, along road margins, around wood debris accumulations or, most frequently, in post-fire areas. The specimens studied were found in early May in Gorbeia Natural Park, in Zeanuri (Bizkaia), where three specimens were growing on the edge of a forest track amidst an accumulation of woody debris of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana.