False Morels

False morels have wrinkled, irregular caps that are brainlike or saddle-shaped. They may be black, gray, white, brown or reddish. The big red false morel, Gyromitra caroliniana, common in Missouri, is a large false morel with a reddish cap. Other names include "elephant ears," "Arkansas morels," and "brain mushrooms." False morels differ from true morels in three obvious ways. First, the cap surface has lobes, folds, flaps, or wrinkles, but it does not have pits and ridges like a true morel. You might say their caps bulge outward instead of being pitted inward. Second, the bottom edge of the cap of a false morel hangs free around the stem, like a skirt. On true morels, the bottom edge of the cap is attached to the stem. Third, when you slice a false morel down the middle, the cap is chambered and the stalk is stuffed with a cottony white tissue. True morels are completely hollow.