watched a youtube vid last night...the author said if you let the black morel grow to full potential thet it grows into a yellow...is this true? ?...have never heard this before and I've been shrooming for 55 years..although I don't claim to be an expert by any means....thx..Dan
black shrooms change into yellow ? ?
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I was always under the impression that there are three types of morels - blacks, yellows, and half free. I believe that the black morel is its own species/type. I have read that the amount of exposure to UV can turn a "grey" yellow, but I believe that greys are in fact yellows just with less exposure to UV (not 100 on that however).
NOWAY I found Yellows today no bigger then 1/4" Just breaking the Ground and I also Found Black over 12" tall on the same Hill side also Found Half Free or as Some call them Peckerheads, I saw a You Tube Once that said if you stair at a Penny Long enough it will Turn into a Dollar Ive been stairing for 63 Years and it Hasn't Happen YET. LOL
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There is a lot of confusion about the different species of morels (Morchella) that we have here in Ohio, and the fact that the mycologists keep re-classifying them every year doesn't help. See MushroomExpert.com's summary of the latest scientific opinions based on DNA analysis:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchellaceae.html
Black morels (Morchella augusticeps and related species) are clearly separate from yellow morels (Morchella esculenta), so if it was really a black in the video, it couldn't turn into a yellow without an act of God -- though it might have just changed its outward color due to sunlight, age, etc.
But the ones most hunters call "greys" actually are just young yellows (Morchella esculenta). Many hunters refuse to believe this, but they are genetically the same mushroom, and if you just leave a small grey grow it will mature into a nice big yellow -- unless it dries out or gets moldy. The same is true of the so-called "big foot" or "white," which is just a really big old yellow. That's the latest scientific view anyway, which is based on DNA analysis of the various mushrooms
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchellaceae.html
Black morels (Morchella augusticeps and related species) are clearly separate from yellow morels (Morchella esculenta), so if it was really a black in the video, it couldn't turn into a yellow without an act of God -- though it might have just changed its outward color due to sunlight, age, etc.
But the ones most hunters call "greys" actually are just young yellows (Morchella esculenta). Many hunters refuse to believe this, but they are genetically the same mushroom, and if you just leave a small grey grow it will mature into a nice big yellow -- unless it dries out or gets moldy. The same is true of the so-called "big foot" or "white," which is just a really big old yellow. That's the latest scientific view anyway, which is based on DNA analysis of the various mushrooms
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You're right, BrYaN: many morels do stay grey until they're nice and big. Those are my favorites for eating, in fact. But keep in mind that there is also a lot of variety of color and shape in any species. Look how many different kinds of dogs we have, and they're all the same species that can get together and mate, from a great dane to a toy poodle. What the mycologists are saying (now, anyway) is that the DNA of greys and yellows is the same, even though they often do look really, really different. But I'm not a mycologist myself, so I just have to trust what MushroomExpert and others are saying.
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