Black Truffle
The black truffle or Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is a prized underground fungus that grows in association with oak and hazel roots in southern Europe. It is among the most expensive foods in the world.
The black truffle or Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is a prized underground fungus that grows in association with oak and hazel roots in southern Europe. It is among the most expensive foods in the world.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Black Truffle in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Opisthokonta lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
An Underground Fruiting Body
The truffle forms mycorrhizal partnerships with tree roots and fruits below ground. It depends on animals, such as wild boar and squirrels, to dig it up and spread its spores. Its aroma, rich in sulfur compounds, attracts them.
Dogs and Pigs
Truffle hunters use trained dogs to locate the ripe truffles by smell. The genome was sequenced in 2010. See Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Soil Fungus.
Cultivated but Fragile
Farmers plant trees inoculated with truffle fungus, but wild harvests have fallen by about 90 percent in a century, with drought and warming as threats.
Black Truffle at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Tuber melanosporum |
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Ascomycota |
| Class | Pezizomycetes |
| Order | Pezizales |
| Family | Tuberaceae |
| Field Guide group | Opisthokonta: Fungi (True Fungi & Lichens) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Subterranean, knobby, black-warted fruiting body that matures underground around oak and hazelnut roots, releasing pungent volatile aromas to attract mammals that dig it up and disperse its spores. |
| Order | Pezizales |
| Tree partners | Oak and hazel |