TUBER MALENCONII Donadini, Riousset, G. Riousset & G. Chev.
[as 'Malenconi'], Bull. trimest. Soc. mycol. Fr. 94(4): 357 (1978)
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Macroscopic characters:
Ascomata: hypogeous, subglobose, lobed, gibbous and often with a small basal cavity, 1-4 cm in size, warted, blackish brown. Warts 1-2 mm across, irregular, close together, pyramidal, 4-6-sided, flattened. Warts come off easily when the truffe is brushed and the peridium turns red and yellow with brushed.
Gleba: firm, solid, whitish at first, then grey, grey-brown, brown at maturity, marbled with numerous, thin, white veins
Odour: strong, unpleasant, even fecal, sometimes garlicky. Easily detectable by truffle dogs.
Taste: no tasted.
Habitat
Calcareous soils associate to holm oaks. They ripen in winter and spring. We always find them under holm oaks in late winter sharing habitat with Tuber melanosporum.
Notes:
Tuber malenconii is a recently described species and is one of the few truffles with 8 spores per ascus, along with Tuber panniferum, Tuber regianum y Tuber pseudoexcavatum.
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Microscopic characters:
Asci: subglobose, sessile or short-stalked, 60-80 x 60-70 µm, 2-8-spored (usually 5-6-spored).
Ascospores: 20-27 (-35) x 15-20 (-25) µm excluding ornament, size variable depending on number of spores in the ascus, Q range = 1,11-1,43, broadly ellipsoid, yellow, translucent, ornamented with a regular reticulum with meshes 1,5-2 µm high, 2-4 µm long, 8-10 across width of spore.
Peridium: 500-600 µm thick, pseudoparenchymatous, composed of subglobose cells.
 | Antonio Rodríguez trufamania@gmail.com antonio@trufamania.com |