It is native to North America, found widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.

Morchella punctipes was first found in Michigan and described scientifically by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck in 1903.

The surface of the stipe can have shallow, longitudinal grooves, and typically features white, mealy granules.

The paraphyses are cylindrical with rounded, subcapitate, clavate, mucronate or irregularly inflated apices; septate; hyaline in KOH (2%); 120–275 x 10–22 μm.

[4] The species is native to eastern North America and is commonly found east of the Rocky Mountains.