Curled Helvella. Fig. 16.
(Helvella crispa.)1673.
This singular-looking plant is nearly allied to the true Morel, and closely resembles it in flavour. It is hardly possible to mistake it for any other species, unless it be the next, which has a black top, and is rarer (H. lacunosa), 1674, and also esculent. H. crispa generally grows on shady banks, or on the edges of pastures and lawns, and amongst dead leaves, under the shade of trees. I have only once seen it near London, and that was in the neighbourhood of Caen Wood, Hampstead; sometimes, however, I have found it in immense quantities (numbering hundreds of specimens) on rich sloping banks. The stem is full of wrinkles and holes, and the top lobed and deflexed in a very singular and irregular manner.
If stewed slowly and with care, this species will prove very pleasant eating, and will exude a delicious gravy. The flesh is firm and crisp, and greatly resembles the Morel. It may be easily dried for future use in a current of air, or in a dry place; in this state, specimens are at times kept threaded on strings, ready to impart their truly delicious flavour to stews and gravies. (See description of fig. 20.)
I once saw a batch of specimens which had suddenly sprung up close to some ants’ nests, and thousands of the ants were swarming over and examining the fungi, and running in and out of the holes in the stems in the most amusing manner.