Morchella

Morchella, the true morels, belonging to Helvellaceae family of class Ascomycetes, are amongst the most highly prized fungi in the world. Their artificial production is still a challenge, even though patents for their cultivation do exist. The tissue of Morchella sp. was transferred
aseptically to Potato Dextrose Agar medium (peeled, sliced and boiled potato, 200 g; dextrose, 20 g; agar, 20 g L-1) to grow hyphae. The mycelium showed fastest growth as compared to
other edible mushrooms. It covered entire area of Petri plate (90 mm) within 4-5 days with the growth rate of 18-22.5mm/day. A unique growth pattern i.e. vertically oriented mycelia were observed. Brown coloured pigmentation in the culture was also observed during the study. The
basal media for spawn (wheat grains; Glucose, 1%, CaCO3, 2%; CaSO4, 1.5% and MgSO4, 1%) was aseptically inoculated with the mushroom culture. The spawn substrate was colonized by mushroom mycelium in 7-8 days. The sclerotia were formed in unused (old) spawn. Wheat
straw was used as a substrate for mushroom cultivation. It was supplemented with wheat bran, 20%, Glucose (1%) and MgSO4 (1%). It showed prolific growth when it was seeded by mushroom spawn using jar method. Once substrate was fully covered with mushroom
mycelium, casing was applied. Sclerotia were successfully obtained after 14 days of incubation in our experiment both in the substrate and casing soil but failed to give rise to fruiting primordial. Further research is going on to domesticate this species in this part of country.

The genus Morchella has gone through turbulent taxonomic treatments. Although significant progress in Morchella systematics
has been achieved in the past decade, several problems remain unresolved and taxonomy in the genus is still in flux.
In late 2019, a paper published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports raised serious concerns about the taxonomic
stability of the genus, but also about the future of academic publishing. The paper, entitled “High diversity of Morchella and
a novel lineage of the esculenta clade from the north Qinling Mountains revealed by GCPSR-based study” by Phanpadith
and colleagues, suffered from gross methodological errors, included false results and artifactual phylogenies, had misapplied
citations throughout, and proposed a new species name invalidly. Although the paper was eventually retracted by Scientific
Reports in 2021, the fact that such an overtly flawed and scientifically unsound paper was published in a high-ranked Q1
journal raises alarming questions about quality controls and safekeeping procedures in scholarly publishing. Using this paper
as a case study, we provide a critical review on the pitfalls of Morchella systematics followed by a series of recommendations
for the delimitation of species, description of taxa, and ultimately for a sustainable taxonomy in Morchella. Problems and
loopholes in the academic publishing system are also identified and discussed, and additional quality controls in the pre- and
post-publication stages are proposed.

The genus Morchella has gone through turbulent taxonomic treatments. Although significant progress in Morchella systematics has been achieved in the past decade, several problems remain unresolved and taxonomy in the genus is still in flux. In late 2019, a paper published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports raised serious concerns about the taxonomic stability of the genus, but also about the future of academic publishing. The paper, entitled “High diversity of Morchella and a novel lineage of the esculenta clade from the north Qinling Mountains revealed by GCPSR-based study” by Phanpadith and colleagues, suffered from gross methodological errors, included false results and artifactual phylogenies, had misapplied citations throughout, and proposed a new species name invalidly. Although the paper was eventually retracted by Scientific Reports in 2021, the fact that such an overtly flawed and scientifically unsound paper was published in a high-ranked Q1 journal raises alarming questions about quality controls and safekeeping procedures in scholarly publishing. Using this paper as a case study, we provide a critical review on the pitfalls of Morchella systematics followed by a series of recommendations for the delimitation of species, description of taxa, and ultimately for a sustainable taxonomy in Morchella. Problems and loopholes in the academic publishing system are also identified and discussed, and additional quality controls in the pre- and post-publication stages are proposed.