Add 2--Morels

are afraid the details might tip off the competition in the race to be the
first to fruit the nutty-flavored mushrooms in a controlled and repeatable
fashion.
Aside from mating activity, morel production seems keyed by environmental
triggers such as moisture, temperature and chemical substances in the soil.
Since morels are frequently found growing under newly-dead elm trees, it is
Volk's guess that living elms may produce a substance that enables morel
mycelia to thrive. When the tree dies, the absence of that substance may then
spur the mycelia to fruit.
Volk's experiments with environmental triggering in the UW-Madison Biotron
-- a facility used to create special environmental conditions -- have, so far,
been unsuccessful. All Volk has been able to coax from his mycelia are small
gray or brown lumps. The lumps, explained Volk, represent the initial stage of
the morel fruit, yet they are far from the six-inch mushrooms commonly found
in the wild.
But while Volk has yet to fruit his first true morel, his efforts and the
work of other scientists around the country may someday result in the taming
of this wild delicacy.

-- Terry Devitt (608) 262-8282