Truffle Genus: Brauniellula

Brauniellula albipes basidiospore

Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Boletales Family: Gomphidiaceae

Spore Characters

Surface: Smooth to faintly wrinkled.
Shape and Size: Symmetrical to longitudinally asymmetrical, ellipsoid or narrowly ellipsoid, 14-20 x 6-10 µm; attachment straight to offset from the longitudinal axis of the spore, a conspicuous sterigmal appendage is present.
Wall: Aingle, +/-1 µm thick.
Color in Water: Smoky yellow-brown to pale brown.
Melzer's Reaction: Pale to deep red-brown.
Comments: Brauniellula cannot be differentiated from other genera of the Gomphidiaceae by spores alone. This family has spores that may be difficult to distinguish from those of some Boletaceae. The smoky tinge and large size of the spores of Gomphidiaceae, however, generally suffice to separate them from those of most Boletaceae.

View photos of Brauniellula spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: 0.5-5 cm broad, with an irregular to flat, convex or depressed cap and a distinct stem; appearing as an unopened mushroom.
Peridium: Yellow-brown to red-brown to dark red, dry and fibrillose or slightly viscid in wet weather; stem color similar to cap or paler.
Gleba: With convoluted and anastomosed gills or chambers, gray-brown at maturity, usually totally enclosed by the inturned margin of the cap, which is connected to the stem by a generally persistent veil.
Odor: Not distinctive.

View photos of Brauniellula sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by preeminent American mycologists and colleagues Alexander Smith (1904-1986) and Rolf Singer (1906-1994) (1958) for its purported resemblance to the South American fungal genus Brauniella with the diminutive Latin suffix -ula, literally "little Brauniella.". As it happens, Brauniellula is at best only distantly related to Brauniella.

Distribution

Found in the mountains of western North America in association with 2-3 needled Pinus spp.; related to the mushroom genus Chroogomphus.
Season: Summer and autumn.
Species known from North Temperate Forests: One - Brauniellula albipes; as originally conceived, the genus contained three species, but one has been transferred to the genus Gomphogaster (Miller 1973), while the other has become synonymous with B. albipes.

Keys and Descriptions

Smith and Singer (1958); B. leucosarx, Smith and Singer, was transferred to Gomphogaster by Miller (1973).