The fruit bodies of Morchella species, including M. elata, are highly polymorphic in appearance, exhibiting variations in shape, color and size; this has contributed to uncertainties regarding taxonomy.

[4][5] More recent DNA work, however, has revealed more than a dozen distinct groups of morels in North America,[6] and over 60 worldwide.

[1] This species-rich view is supported by studies in North America,[1] Western Europe,[9] Turkey,[10][11] Israel,[12] the Himalayas,[13] and China.

[14] DNA analysis in 2011 has shown North American black morels to be largely distinct from European species,[1] therefore restricting the use of the M. elata name to Europe.

purpurescens, characterised by the purple- or pink-colored tinges of its ascocarps,[15] is now considered to belong to a phylogenetically distinct lineage (Richard et al. 2014).

Fries' original description, which was based on a collection from a fir wood in Sweden, reported it as rare: "In silvis abiegnis, praecipue locis humidis adustis, raro".