At maturity, American elm produced large seed crops. The winged seeds are dispersed via wind, and to a lesser extent, by animals and water. American elm seeds typically germinate shortly after they reach the ground, although seed may lay dormant until the following spring.

Look at the seeds of the elm. They are distinctive in appearance. Elm seeds are round, flat and covered by a thin, paper-like casing that hooks at the top. Most elms bear single seeds about the size of a pea. The seeds are encased in a green, thin, ovular case the resembles an insect wing called a samara.

Elm tree seeds reach maturity at the end of the tree’s flowering cycle, and fall to the ground. The green seeds are round and flat, and are approximately 1 inch in length and thickness. A large, mature elm tree produces prolific amounts of seed pods, which cause a mess on yards, driveways and walkways.

You can obtain seeds from an aged elm, which should be at least 15 years old. The seeds or samaras have slight wings and are scattered by the wind. Usually seeds fall within 300 feet of the parent elm. Once you have collected the seeds, air-dry them for 1-2 days, so that they germinate.

First, almost any plant (especially bark) can cause gastrointestinal irritation. So yes, it’s possible that eating leaves and bark might make your dog have vomiting and diarrhea.

Morel mushroom season can last a long time—until ground temperatures get too high and undergrowth makes it difficult to spot the last morels of the season. Once daytime air temperatures reach the 80s, the season is usually over.

Where to Find Mushrooms. You will find both yellow and gray morel mushrooms growing near logs, under decomposing leaves, under dying elm trees, ash trees, popular trees, and pine trees, or in old apple orchards. However, morels do not require trees to grow.

Legend has it that morels grow best at the base of dead elm trees, a myth that Jon Farrar attributes to the morel bonanza that followed the die-off of American elms in the 1960s due to Dutch elm disease. In truth, morels aren’t quite so picky. They’ll grow near other dead trees too.

The tips of a dead elm tree will have many little finger-like branches. The next best elm tree you should look for while hunting is an elm that’s losing its bark. The bark will be slipping from the tree and missing up to half of the bark.

Sure enough, morels love growing under old apple trees. Morels have a distinctive shape, eerily similar to brain coral in surface, with elfin-like rounded turrets that poke up out of the ground, leaning this way and that. Morels particularly like apple trees, poplar, and elm, but can be found just about anywhere.

For more than thirty years, they served morels, drawing in crowds from all over the country. But generally the best places to find morels are near trees, creek beds and mayflowers, said Paden. They grow most commonly under apple, elm, hickory, pine, poplar, and sycamore trees.

“Those two trees are best for finding morels,” Dittman says. Sycamore, elm and walnut trees will also attract morels, but never oak. If you find a morel in an oak forest, take a look around, because I bet there is an ash tree close by.”

Black morels typically appear first, so we’ll start with them. They generally grow near ash, sycamore, aspen, and coniferous trees, and are most commonly found in Northern and Western North America (though they certainly do grow in Eastern North America). Yellow morels grow in burned areas, too.

The lower areas (creeks and ravines) of hilly ground are normally pretty good for morel mushroom hunting. A fallen, dead cottonwood tree like this one in a wooded creek bottom in hilly terrain would be a prime spot to look for morel mushrooms.

Morels like it when it starts to get around 60 degrees and above during the day, and night temperatures hover around 40 degrees. Also, get yourself a soil thermometer and check the temperature of the soil where you hunt. Morels start popping up when the earth gets between 45 and 50 degrees.