Identification: Difference between a morel and a fake morel

Hello,
Could any body help me with these mushroom? I am not sure if it is a true morel or a fake morel?
If you are in North Van, near Grouse, PM if you want to see it/check it...because, as you know, where there is one morel, there would be many more.
Thank you for your help.

 

This is a true morel, probably one of the landscape species that grows in mulch. More may come up, but they will likely be limited to the mulched area. Verpa bohemica would be the only false morel that could be mistaken for a true morel, and it is easily distinguished by looking at the cap attachment. In a true morel the cap is attached to the stem at its base (or occasionaly at its middle), while Verpa caps are attached at their tops.

 

Are you saying that the true morel can be cultivated by home gardeners?

I hope the answer is 'yes'.

 

I am so exited...I will keep posting pictures, hopefully better pictures. This was a huge morel. And I really hope to have more...

 

Margot, landscape morels seem to come up in mulch at random and usually for only one year. However, the Chinese seem to have developed a method of cultivating morels; just Google "chinese morel cultivation" for details.

 

Vitog - I'll do that. Thanks.

 

"Buyer be wary" - there have been a surprising number of morel cultivation scammers that have sprung up lately online.

Although there *is* as @vitog mentioned, commercial cultivation of specific species of morels ... there are also a bunch of folks offering to sell you morel "seeds" or other products that clearly would never actually produce anything.

Different morel species occupy different ecological niches; only specific species can be cultivated.

I know folks who appear to have had some success with landscape* morels by broadcasting a slurry of a small number of morels found on their property, and then having more appear in the area targeted, in future years. I also know some who have tried that without success.

EDIT *to clarify/expand a bit re some of the above comments:
There are many different species of "true" morels (Morchella sp.). "Landscape morels" refers to a small number of species of morels that are found in this kind of habitat (woodchip/mulch/gardens/yards, etc). The usual species of this type in BC is Morchella importuna, but there are others that can occupy this kind of habitat.
There are also "burn morels" - a group of several species that grow in burned habitats. And a much larger more amorphous group sometimes collectively called "naturals" which have multiple ecologies and in some cases overlap with the first two groups mentioned.

 

My two morels were big, really big, I would say too ripe. I eat a bit yesterday and they were the real thing. They grew beside my compost, on a slope, there was lots of mulch and a birch tree grows above...I think those are good conditions for morels to grow. I left one of the two morels on the ground and I would keep checking the site.