Tuber macrosporum

Description

Tuber macrosporum is a species of edible truffle in the family Tuberaceae. Found in Europe, and common in central Italy.

It is harvested in the period from September to December and its appearance is: from reddish-brown to black on the outside and dark brown with white stripes on the inside. The surface is covered with flat wart growths, which makes the sponge look smooth.

The smooth black truffle grows underground in small families with up to 5 fruit bodies. Mycelium forms on the roots of some of the coniferous and deciduous trees.

Common names: Smooth Black Truffle, Tartufo Liscio.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ascomata

   Hypogeous, subglobose or irregular in form and lobed, 1-5 cm in size, warted, reddish brown to blackish. Warts 0,5-2 mm across, polygonal, irregular in form and size, flattened, ridged.

2. Gleba

   Firm, solid, brown purplish to black at maturity, marbled with numerous, wide, white, meandering veins.

3. Odor and Taste

   Strong, pleasant, garlicky.

4. Habitat

   Tuber macrosporum usually grows in limestones soils and often in clay soils. In Italy, you can find these truffles in the same places as Tuber magnatum.

Tuber macrosporum Microscopic Features

1. Asci

   Subglobose to ellipsoid, short-stalked, 90-130 x 65-80 µm, 1-3 (-4)-spored (usually 3-spored).

2. Ascospores

   42-85 x 30-42 (-42) µm excluding ornament, size variable depending on several spores in the ascus, Q range = 1,40-2,08, ellipsoid, light yellow, brown-reddish at maturity, opaque at maturity, ornamented with a small-meshed reticulum. Meshes polygonal, irregular in form and size, 3-5 (6) µm high, 4-10 µm long, 6-10 across the width of spore.

3. Peridium

   150-300 µm thick, composed of agglutinated, interwoven, thick-walled hyphae, brown-reddish in the outermost layers, yellowish in the innermost layers.

History

The species was discovered, described, and illustrated by the Italian mycologist Carlo Vittadini, to be verified in his work Monographia Tuberacearum in 1831. This taxon is valid until 2019. There is still the synonym Tuber rhenanum by the famous mycologist Leopold Fuckel from 1870. But probably the first description belongs to the French scientist Pierre Bulliard who mentioned and painted the species as Tuber cibarium subcinereum alliaceum in volume 1 of his work Histoire des champignons de la France from 1791.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: nicolo_oppicelli (CC BY-NC 4.0)