How do morel mushrooms grow?

Question

How do morel mushrooms grow?

Answer 1

Pretty much the same way as any other mushroom, with the exception of the sclerotium.  A spore germinates, grows into a mycelium, and from there makes a sclerotium.  The sclerotium can form a fruiting body, which is the morel you like to eat, but it's actually more common for it to form a new mycelium, which is not what you're going to eat.  The sclerotium stage is what's  made trying to cultivate morels so difficult.

http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/...

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/...

Answer 2

Morel mushrooms are usually decay organisms. They produce enzymes on the surface of the mycelium for breaking down large molecules. Morels do not, except perhaps for attacking some polysaccharides, as yeasts do.