Related Research Articles
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, over one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including Geopora, Peziza, Choiromyces, and Leucangium. 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 they 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.
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.
Terfezia is a genus of truffle-like fungi within the Pezizaceae family. Terfezia species are commonly known as desert truffles. Some authorities consider this the type genus of the family Terfeziaceae, although phylogenetic analysis suggests that it nests within the Pezizaceae. The Dictionary of the Fungi suggests that the genus contains 12 species. A recent (2011) publication used molecular analysis to show that the American Terfezia species had been incorrectly classified, and moved Terfezia spinosa and Terfezia longii to Mattirolomyces and Stouffera, respectively; as a result, no Terfezia species are known to exist in North America.
The Tuberaceae are a family of mycorrhizal fungi, in the order Pezizales, that evolved during or after the first major radiation of Angiosperms in the Jurassic period. It includes the genus Tuber, which includes the so-called "true" truffles. It was characterized by the Belgian botanist Barthélemy Charles Joseph du Mortier in 1822. A molecular study of ribosomal DNA by mycologist Kerry O'Donnell in 1997 found that a small clade now redefined as Helvellaceae is most closely related to the Tuberaceae. The mycologist Mary Cloyd Burnley Stifler studied and described fungal family, donating specimens to herbariums across the United States.
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.
Austrogautieria is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the family Gallaceaceae. Segregated from the genus Gautieria in 1986, the genus contains six species found in Australia.
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 oregonense, commonly known as the Oregon white truffle, is a species of edible truffle in the genus Tuber. Described as new to science in 2010, the North American species is found on the western coast of the United States, from northern California to southern British Columbia west of the Cascade Range. A mycorrhizal fungus, it grows in a symbiotic association with Douglas fir. It overlaps in distribution with the closely related T. gibbosum, but they have different growing seasons: T. oregonense typically appears from October through March, while T. gibbosum grows from January to June. The fruit bodies of the fungus are roughly spherical to irregular in shape, and resemble small potatoes up to 5 cm (2 in) in diameter. Inside the truffle is the gleba, which is initially white before it becomes a marbled tan color. The large, often thick-walled, and strongly ornamented spores are produced in large spherical asci. The truffle is highly prized for its taste and aroma. Some individuals have claimed success in cultivating the truffles in Christmas tree farms.
Tuber gibbosum is a species of truffle in the genus Tuber. It is found in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, where it grows in an ectomycorrhizal association with Douglas-fir. It is commercially collected between as early as October and into March.
Chondrogaster is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the Mesophelliaceae family. The genus, described by French mycologist René Maire in 1926, contains two species, the type Chondrogaster pachysporus, and Chondrogaster angustisporus, described in 2000. Collectively, Chondrogaster is found in Mauritania, Brazil, and Europe.
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.
Fischerula is a genus of two truffle-like fungi in the family Morchellaceae. First described from central Italy by Oreste Mattirolo in 1928, the genus name honors Swiss mycologist Eduard Fischer. The type species Fischerula macrospora is known only from Italy, while Fischerula subcaulis is found in coniferous and mixed forests of Oregon and Washington.
Kjeldsenia is a fungal genus in the family Claustulaceae of truffle-like species. It was first described in 1995 and in Mendocino County, California. The genus name honors C.K. Kjeldsen, professor of botany at Sonoma State University, while the specific epithet for the type species aureispora refers to the color of the spores when they are viewed in transmitted light.
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.
Destuntzia rubra is a species of truffle-like fungus in the family Claustulaceae, and the type species of the genus Destuntzia. The fungus was first described scientifically in 1899 by H. W. Harkness as Hymenogaster ruber. Robert Fogel and James Trappe transferred it to Destuntzia in 1985.
Carbomyces emergens is a desert truffle in the genus Carbomyces, a small genus common to the Chihuahuan desert in the southwestern United States and Mexico. C. emergens is regarded as the most common and widely distributed species in Carbomyces, also serving as the genus' type species. C. emergens belongs to the Carbomycetaceae family, in the order Pezizales, class Pezizomycetes, division Ascomycota.
Hosakaea is a fungal genus in the family Claustulaceae. The genus contains the single truffle-like species Hosakaea violascens, which is found in Thailand. It is named after Kentaro Hosaka, curator of Basidiomycota fungi at the Japanese National Museum of Nature and Science.
References
- 1 2 Mujic A, Elliot T, Stephens R, Trappe J, Kristol R, Sublett D, Smith ME (2024). "Rare but widespread: A systematic revision of the truffle-forming genera Destuntzia and Kjeldsenia and formation of new genus, Hosakaea". Mycologia. 116 (1): 148–169. doi:10.1080/00275514.2023.2259786.
- ↑ Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-85199-826-8.
- ↑ Fogel R, Trappe JM (1985). "Destuntzia a new genus in the Hymenogastraceae (Basidiomycotina)". Mycologia. 77 (5): 732–42. doi:10.2307/3793282. JSTOR 3793282.
