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A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus Tuber. In addition to Tuber, many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including Geopora, Peziza, Choiromyces, Leucangium, and over a hundred others. These genera belong to the class Pezizomycetes and the Pezizales order. Several truffle-like basidiomycetes are excluded from Pezizales, including Rhizopogon and Glomus. Truffles are ectomycorrhizal fungi, so are usually found in close association with tree roots. Spore dispersal is accomplished through fungivores, animals that eat fungi. These fungi have significant ecological roles in nutrient cycling and drought tolerance.
Russula is a very large genus composed of around 750 worldwide species of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms. They are typically common, fairly large, and brightly colored – making them one of the most recognizable genera among mycologists and mushroom collectors. Their distinguishing characteristics include usually brightly coloured caps, a white to dark yellow spore print, brittle, attached gills, an absence of latex, and absence of partial veil or volva tissue on the stem. Microscopically, the genus is characterised by the amyloid ornamented spores and flesh (trama) composed of spherocysts. Members of the related genus Lactarius have similar characteristics but emit a milky latex when their gills are broken. The genus was described by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1796.
Rhizopogon is a genus of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes in the family Rhizopogonaceae. Species form hypogeous sporocarps commonly referred to as "false truffles". The general morphological characters of Rhizopogon sporocarps are a simplex or duplex peridium surrounding a loculate gleba that lacks a columnella. Basidiospores are produced upon basidia that are borne within the fungal hymenium that coats the interior surface of gleba locules. The peridium is often adorned with thick mycelial cords, also known as rhizomorphs, that attach the sporocarp to the surrounding substrate. The scientific name Rhizopogon is Greek for 'root' (Rhiz-) 'beard' (-pogon) and this name was given in reference to the rhizomorphs found on sporocarps of many species.
The sporocarp of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cycle, while the rest of the life cycle is characterized by vegetative mycelial growth and asexual spore production.
Gomphus is a genus of cantharelloid fungi in the family Gomphaceae. Once presumed to be related to chanterelles, molecular study has shown them to be allied with stinkhorns and fairy clubs. The type species of the genus is the pig's ear (G. clavatus).
Verpa is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the morels. Resembling the latter genus in edibility and form, the common name early morels is popular. There are five species in the widespread genus.
The Morchellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi in the order Pezizales. According to a standard reference work, the family has contained at least 49 species distributed among four genera. However, in 2012, five genera that produce ascoma that are sequestrate and hypogeous were added. The best-known members are the highly regarded and commercially picked true morels of the genus Morchella, the thimble morels of the genus Verpa, and a genus of cup-shaped fungi Disciotis. The remaining four genera produce the sequestrate fruit bodies.
The Helvellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi, the best-known members of which are the elfin saddles of the genus Helvella. Originally erected by Elias Magnus Fries in 1823 as Elvellacei, it contained many genera. Several of these, such as Gyromitra and Discina, have been found to be more distantly related in a molecular study of ribosomal DNA by mycologist Kerry O'Donnell in 1997, leaving a much smaller core clade now redefined as Helvellaceae. Instead, this narrowly defined group is most closely related to the true truffles of the Tuberaceae. Although the Dictionary of the Fungi considered the Helvellaceae to contain six genera and 63 species, genetic analysis has shown that Leucangium, previously classified in this family, is more closely related to the Morchellaceae.
The Albatrellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. The family contains 9 genera and more than 45 species.
Rhizopogonaceae are a family of fungi in the order Boletales. The family, first named and described by botanists Ernst Albert Gäumann and Carroll William Dodge in 1928, contains 2 genera and 151 species. The genus Fevansia, formerly thought to belong in the Rhizopogonaceae, was found to belong in the Albatrellaceae in a molecular phylogenetics study.
The Carbomycetaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales. The family contains the single genus Carbomyces, which in turn contains three species distributed in the United States and Mexico.
Kalaharituber is a fungal genus in the family Pezizaceae. It is a monotypic genus, whose single truffle-like species, Kalaharituber pfeilii, is found in the Kalahari Desert, which spans the larger part of Botswana, the east of Namibia and the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
Gigasperma is a monotypic genus of fungi in the order Agaricales with a single species, G. cryptica. It is treated either as the only genus in the monotypic family Gigaspermataceae, or part of the wider Cortinariaceae. Gigasperma was circumscribed by Austrian mycologist Egon Horak in 1971.
Leucangium is a genus of ascomycete fungi. The genus was circumscribed by French mycologist Lucien Quélet in 1883. Although classified in the Helvellaceae in the past, molecular analysis indicates it is closely related to the genus Fischerula and Imaia, and therefore must be placed in the Morchellaceae. The genus includes two species, Leucangium ophthalmosporum Quél. and L. carthusianum Paol., and both of them produce sequestrate ascoma, globose to ellipsoidal ascus, and dark olive-colored to grayish green, smooth, fusiform ascospores.
Tuber is a genus in the Tuberaceae family of fungi, with estimated molecular dating to the end of the Jurassic period. It includes several species of truffles that are highly valued as delicacies.
Dingleya is a genus of truffles in the Tuberaceae family. The genus contains seven species found in Australia. Circumscribed by James Trappe in 1979, the genus is named after New Zealand mycologist Joan Dingley.
Andebbia is a fungal genus in the family Mesophelliaceae. The genus is monotypic, containing the single truffle-like species Andebbia pachythrix, found in Australia.
Malajczukia is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the Mesophelliaceae family. The genus contains eight species found in Australia and New Zealand.
Kalapuya brunnea is a species of truffle in the monotypic fungal genus Kalapuya. The truffle occurs only in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, in western Oregon and northern California. Known locally as the Oregon brown truffle, it was formerly thought to be an undescribed species of Leucangium until molecular analysis demonstrated that it was distinct from that genus. The truffle is reddish brown with a rough and warty outer skin, while the interior spore-producing gleba is initially whitish before developing greyish-brown mottling as it matures. Mature truffles have an odor resembling garlicky cheese, similar to mature Camembert. The species has been harvested for culinary purposes in Oregon.
James Martin Trappe is a mycologist and expert in the field of North American truffle species. He has authored or co-authored 450 scientific papers and written three books on the subject. MycoBank lists him as either author or co-author of 401 individual species, and over the course of his career he has helped guide research on mycorrhizal fungi, and reshaped truffle taxonomy: establishing a new order, two new families, and 40 individual genera.
References
- ↑ Lumbsch TH, Huhndorf SM (December 2007). "Outline of Ascomycota – 2007". Myconet. 13: 1–58. Archived from the original on 2009-03-18.
- ↑ Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CABI. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-85199-826-8.
- ↑ Trappe JM. (1971). "A synopsis of the Carbomycetaceae and Terfeziaceae (Tuberales)". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 57 (1): 85–92. doi:10.1016/S0007-1536(71)80083-9.
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