Contest poses a 'morel dilemma'

The second annual First Morel Contest, sponsored by the Department of Plant Pathology and Cornell Mycology, is off and running and so are knowledgeable mushroom hunters.

But the contest poses something of a dilemma for aficionados of the tasty fungi in the genus Morchella-- to keep and eat the first morel of spring or surrender it to university mycology collection in hopes of winning a prize? Prizes in the contest, which is explained at http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/CUPpages/Morel.html, will be awarded for the first black morel and first yellow morel to be found in a 15 mile radius of the campus.

Identification help is offered at the web site and at the Cornell mycology collection in 401 Plant Sciences Building, phone 255-5356 -- an important consideration because some "false morels" are poisonous and should not be eaten.