Morchella conica exhibiting a long fruiting season

Morels are known to produce ascocarps during a few weeks in the spring. Here we present findings about a Morchella conica population which produces ascocarps during a period of 8-10 months, from early spring until mid-winter. To the best of our knowledge, this phenomenon has not been described previously. Field investigations correlated the ascocarp appearance with gradual drying of the soil. DNA-PCR fingerprinting indicated that these Morchella shared a similar genetic background.