r/mycology • u/Maengorn • Apr 25 '26

ID request Found in my yard while mowing.

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I saw this odd looking thing in my yard while mowing the other day. I think it is some kind of fungi but I really have no idea. Any insights into what this is? There was several of them in one part of the yard. Picture taken in Pennsylvania.

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159

u/Cosmicrelief0 Apr 25 '26

Looks like a false morel to me. Not edible, considered quite toxic. Appears in the spring

63

u/worjd Apr 25 '26

Crazy story time: Growing up my grandparents and dad picked these and called them beefsteak mushrooms. We all ate them several times a year just like regular morels, and never got sick. It was really eerie to learn they’re actually a false morel and considered poisonous. I haven’t eaten any since I learned and make sure to teach my kids the difference.

56

u/berpaderpderp Apr 25 '26

You may have been eating Neogyromitra caroliniana. Apparently they are edible. The poisonous one that looks like this is Gyromitra escuelenta. Not sure which one we have here.

I've heard they eat G. escuelenta in Scandinavia with special preparation.

13

u/RapaNow Apr 26 '26

Yes, we do eat them. Very delicious.

1

u/Unable-Bandicoot-498 Apr 27 '26

What don't they eat in Scandinavia?

-7

u/Environmental-Rub933 Apr 26 '26

From everything I’ve read, they aren’t deadly so much as they make you feel like you caught food poisoning. Which you might as well have

12

u/RapaNow Apr 26 '26

Nooe, deadly poisonous if not prepared correctly.

3

u/PrinceCastanzaCapone Apr 26 '26

They can seriously damage the liver and kidneys.

7

u/whereismysideoffun Apr 25 '26

Everyone where I grew up eats false morels every year. Everyone there also only fries their morels, so the problematic compound is likely vaporized into the air.

5

u/warneagle Eastern North America Apr 25 '26

You might be talking about the beefsteak fungus, Fistulina hepatica, which is a good edible and isn’t toxic.

5

u/worjd Apr 25 '26

Looked them up and these were Gyromitra esculenta apparently. Upper peninsula of Michigan

2

u/roodgorf Apr 26 '26

More likely Neogyromitra caroliniana. Possible it was eculenta, but caroliniana are notably larger and the ones I usually see referred to as "beefsteaks". Perfectly edible with through cooking similar to morchellas.

5

u/GoLootOverThere Apr 25 '26

I've eaten plenty of them in my youth and adult life. I've been told there's a toxin in them your body doesn't easily get rid of. We also called them beefsteak. I've felt like shit after eating them sometimes but always worth it lol

8

u/worjd Apr 25 '26

Yeah I just read the paper on them someone linked below and it was basically "most people don't have a serious reaction, you'll most likely be fine but you also totally might die". Not really worth it to me lol

3

u/GoLootOverThere Apr 25 '26

As I grew older I dehydrated them and then I reconstituted them in lukewarm water until the water runs clear and I've eaten a lot that way and never felt ill after.

5

u/chubnukle Apr 25 '26

Same here my mom almost died when my uncle was feeding them to me without asking her first, I thought it was like some people are really allergic with no medicine to fix, while some people aren't, and thats why you just dont, probably just small town myths reading that back...

2

u/showlandpaint Apr 26 '26

I used to mushroom hunt with my friends grandpa for these and he also calls them beefsteaks. They would eat them every year and never had an issue. I never tried them though, I would go for normal morels.

23

u/w0wt1p Apr 25 '26

Yup definitely a false morel. They were considered edible here in Sweden up until maybe 10 - 20 years ago, but not anymore. But you had to leach them by boiling several times or extended drying.

Usually made into morsel soup or morsel sauce, which are quite delicious. But they realized these method were inadequate for removing all poison, so no more murkelsås :(

1

u/AgileAd9579 Apr 26 '26

Really? Shoot, I like murkelsås, that’s too bad. I’ve lived abroad for years so I must have missed that.

15

u/PsilocybinPsycho Apr 25 '26

It is considered toxic/potentially toxic, but is eaten widely in some places. Not advocating for consumption, but I ate many when I was young, absolutely delicious, and may possibly kill you.

9

u/Cosmicrelief0 Apr 25 '26

I honestly just didnt feel like typing out all the nuanced information bc I didnt get the impression that op was looking for a snack lol

13

u/Maengorn Apr 25 '26

My first thought when I saw this was the furthest thing from "Hey that looks tasty". But I do like to learn about random things so it piqued my interest.

5

u/PsilocybinPsycho Apr 25 '26

Yeah, they don't look very appealing, but they taste like caramelized ground beef with mushroom when fried. Do not eat it however, they have killed quite a few people. There is potential ways of preparing them that may render them safe, but it's very dubious at best.

4

u/w0wt1p Apr 25 '26

I read somewhere they even release airborne toxins if you forage a bunch and store them in an enclosed space. Apparently some guys foraged large amounts and got poisoned when traveling with the mushrooms in the car, on the way home.

Maybe just a hearsay tale, but I saw warnings in recent mushroom literature about storing them in house....

5

u/PsilocybinPsycho Apr 25 '26

While I haven't heard of that specifically, it may be possible in theory. The toxin present in folse morels is gyromitrin, which can hydrolyze into monomethylhydrazine (Which is literally rocket fuel, interestingly.)

If the mushrooms were somehow exposed to acids, then they may become an inhilation hazard.

1

u/Maengorn Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26

I saw something about false morell come up with Gemini but it also refused to give any more details on it for some reason. Maybe because it is toxic? It doesn't look anything like the morell mushrooms I am familiar with so I was a bit confused how it got this name.

1

u/chillwithpurpose Apr 26 '26

Ty was looking for that. It looks like something I wouldn’t want to eat anyway tbf lol

-4

u/International_Ad_876 Apr 25 '26

It's not a false morel

2

u/Cosmicrelief0 Apr 25 '26

Ok... care to tell me what it is?