The mushrooms, commonly known as elfin saddles, are identified by their irregularly shaped caps, fluted stems, and fuzzy undersurfaces.

[1] Species in Helvella have fruiting bodies (technically ascocarps) that grow above the ground, and usually have stems.

The cup-like fruiting body (the apothecium) can assume a variety of forms: it may be shaped like an ear (auriculate), or a saddle; it may be convex or irregularly lobed and bent.

The spore-bearing surface, the hymenium, can be smooth, wavy or wrinkled and can range in color from white to black or various shades of gray or brown.

Similarly, the outer surface of the fruiting bodies can be smooth, ribbed, or have minute hairlike projections (villi).