Fungalpedia – Note 1777, Morchellaceae
Morchellaceae Reichenb.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.
Classification: Pezizales, Pezizomycetidae, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Taxa are saprobic and widely spread especially in temperate regions (Wong et al. 2001; Cannon and Kirk 2007). Some form ectomycorrhizal associations. This family produce highly diverse apothecia from cup-shaped to club-shaped and are traditionally known as true morels. Apothecia formed from subterranean sclerotia-like structures (Amir et al. 1992). Hymenium or disc surface of true morels are lobed or bear ridges. Asci are mostly operculate, cylindrical and persistent (Cannon and Kirk 2007). Ascospores are ellipsoidal, hyaline and smooth walled. Asexual morphs are hyphomycetous, with branched or verticillate conidiophores arising from dark ornamented setose hyphae. Conidiogenous cells are cylindrical, proliferating sympodially, minutely denticulate. Conidia are small, hyaline, aseptate and spherical (Wong et al. 2001; Cannon and Kirk 2007). Recent studies on Morchellaceae are those of Ondrej et al. (2011), O’Donnell et al. (2011), Du et al. (2012a, b), Peric´ and Radic´ (2013), Elliott et al. (2014), Carris et al. (2015), Desjardin et al. (2015), Richard et al. (2015), Voitk et al. (2016) and Yatsiuk et al. (2016).
Type genus: Morchella Dill. ex Pers., Neues Mag. Bot. 1: 116 (1794).
References
Elliott TF, Bougher NL, O’Donnell K, Trappe JM 2014 – Morchella australiana sp. nov., an apparent Australian endemic from New South Wales and Victoria. Mycologia 106:113–118.
Kuo M, Dewsbury DR, Carter CM, Rehner SA, Moore JD, Moncalvo JM, Canfield SA, Stephenson SL, Methven AS, Volk TJ 2012 – Taxonomic revision of true morels (Morchella) in Canada and the United States. Mycologia 104:1159–1177.
Ondrej V, Havra´nek P, Kitner M, Nemcova´ P 2011 – Molecular identification and characterization of the edible and medicinal Morchellaceae germplasm collection of ‘‘mulch morels’’. Int J Med Mushrooms 13:369–375.
O’Donnell K, Rooney AP, Mills GL, Kuo M, Weber NS, Rehner SA 2011 – Phylogeny and historical biogeography of true morels (Morchella) reveals an early Cretaceous origin and high continental endemism and provincialism in the Holarctic. Fungal Genet Biol 48:252–265.
Peric´ B, Radic´ S 2013 – Deux taxons du genre Morchella (Pezizales), inte´ressants et rares en Europe: M. steppicola et M. eximia. Mycol Monten 16:29–44.
Richard F, Bellanger JM, Clowez P, Hansen K, O’Donnell K, Urban A, Sauve M, Courtecuisse R, Moreau PA 2015 – True morels (Morchella, Pezizales) of Europe and North America: evolutionary relationships inferred from multilocus data and a unified taxonomy. Mycologia 107:359–382.
Voitk A, Beug MW, O’Donnell K, Burzynski M 2016 – Two new species of true morels from Newfoundland and Labrador: cosmopolitan Morchella eohespera and parochial M. laurentiana. Mycologia 108:31–37.
Yatsiuk I, Kalamees K, Sulaymonov S, Gafforov Y, O’Donnell K 2016 – Epitypification of Morchella steppicola (Morchellaceae, Pezizales), a morphologically, phylogenetically and biogeographically distinct member of the Esculenta Clade from central Eurasia. Phytotaxa 284:031–040.
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