TUBER MACROSPORUM Vittadini
Monographia Tuberacearum 35, Tab. I fig. V (1831)
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Synonyms:
Tuber rhenanum Fuckel (1869), Jahrbücher des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde 23 u. 24: 247
Macroscopic characters:
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.
Gleba: firm, solid, purplish-brown to black at maturity, marbled with numerous, wide, white, meandering veins.
Odour: strong, pleasant, garlicky, reminiscent of Tuber magnatum.
Taste: strong, pleasant, garlicky, reminiscent of Tuber magnatum.
Habitat:
Tuber macrosporum usually grows in limestone soils and often in clay soils. In Italy, it can be found in the same locations as Tuber magnatum. It is associated with the roots of several trees: poplars (Populus), willows (Salix), hazels (Corylus), oaks (Quercus) and lindens (Tilia).
Notes:
Tuber macrosporum is easily recognisable by its large spores and low, flattened warts. It sometimes appears almost smooth and is commonly known as the “smooth black truffle”. The first description of this species was probably Tuber cibarium subcinereum alliaceum Bulliard (1791), Histoire Champignons France 74.
Tuber macrosporum is an edible truffle of outstanding gastronomic quality.
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Microscopic characters:
Asci: subglobose to ellipsoid, short-stalked, 90-130 x 65-80 µm, 1-3 (-4)-spored (usually 3-spored).
Ascospores: 42-85 x 30-42 (-42) µm excluding ornament, size variable depending on number of 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 width of spore.
Peridium:150-300 µm thick, composed of agglutinated, interwoven, thick-walled hyphae, brown- reddish in the outermost layers, yellowish in the innermost layers.
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