From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
An edible mushroom of the genus Morchella, dark, hollow, cone-shaped and covered with honeycomb-like pits, considered a delicacy. Available in the spring, the black morel (M. angusticeps) and yellow morel (M. esculenta) are the varieties most commonly consumed. Poisonous morels include the "wrinkled thimble cap" and the "false morel." Morels are found in a wide variety of habitants including open woodlands and among shrubs. Attempts to farm morels have not been very successful but dried morels are widely available year-round; it takes 8 pounds (4 kg) of fresh ones to make 1 pound (500 g) of dried. See also mushroom.
