The Morchellaceae are a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of ascomycete

Ascomycota

The Ascomycota are a Division/Phylum of the kingdom Fungi, and subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the Sac fungi. They are the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species...

 fungi. According to a standard reference work, the family contains 49 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

  distributed among 4 genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

. The best-known members are the highly-regarded and commercially picked true morel

Morel

Morchella, the true morels, is a genus of edible mushrooms closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi. These distinctive mushrooms appear honeycomb-like in that the upper portion is composed of a network of ridges with pits between them....

s of the genus Morchella, the thimble morels of the genus Verpa

Verpa

Verpa is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the morels. Resembling the latter genus, they are called false or early morels. There are five species in the widespread genus.Verpa comes from the Latin for erection or little rod....

, and a genus of cup-shaped fungi Disciotis

Disciotis

Disciotis is a genus of fungi in the family Morchellaceae. Members of this family, characterized by their cup- or bowl-shaped apothecia, have a widespread distribution, especially in northern temperate regions.-Description:...

.

Analysis of the ribosomal DNA

Ribosomal DNA

Ribosomal DNA codes for ribosomal RNA. The ribosome is an intracellular macromolecule that produces proteins or polypeptide chains. The ribosome itself consists of a composite of proteins and RNA. As shown in the figure, rDNA consists of a tandem repeat of a unit segment, an operon, composed of...

 of many of the Pezizales

Pezizales

The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white truffles, and the desert truffles. The Pezizales are...

 showed the three genera Verpa , Morchella, and Disciotis to be closely related. Thus they are now included in the family Morchellaceae.

General description

Other than the anamorph

Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph

The terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.*Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage , typically a fruiting body....

 genus Costantinella, the three remaining genera of Morchellaceae are distinguished by ascocarp

Ascocarp

An ascocarp, or ascoma , is the fruiting body of an ascomycete fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and may contain millions of asci, each of which typically contains eight ascospores...

 morphology. Morchella species have an ascocarp with a sponge-like pileus

Pileus (mycology)

The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...

, with a hollow stipe

Stipe (mycology)

thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...

 and pileus. Verpa

Verpa

Verpa is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the morels. Resembling the latter genus, they are called false or early morels. There are five species in the widespread genus.Verpa comes from the Latin for erection or little rod....

species have a cup-like or thimble-shaped, smooth or wrinkled pileus above a hollow stipe

Stipe (mycology)

thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...

. Disciotis

Disciotis

Disciotis is a genus of fungi in the family Morchellaceae. Members of this family, characterized by their cup- or bowl-shaped apothecia, have a widespread distribution, especially in northern temperate regions.-Description:...

has a cup-like pileus with vein-like hymenial

Hymenium

The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some cells develop into sterile cells called cystidia or...

 folds and a small or nonexistent stipe. The ascospore

Ascospore

An ascospore is a spore contained in an ascus or that was produced inside an ascus. This kind of spore is specific to fungi classified as ascomycetes ....

s are ellipsoid, smooth, and usually hyaline

Hyaline

The term hyaline denotes a substance with a glass-like appearance.-Histopathology:In histopathological medical usage, a hyaline substance appears glassy and pink after being stained with haematoxylin and eosin — usually it is an acellular, proteinaceous material...

.