Truffle Genus: Genea
 Genea compacta ascospore |
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Ascomycota Order: Pezizales Family: Pyrenomataceae |
Spore Characters
Surface: Smooth in youth, soon developing hyaline,
rounded warts or pointed, truncate, or forked cones. These ornaments
slowly dissolve in KOH.
Shape and Size: Ellipsoid to subglobose. 20-45 x 12-34 µm
excluding ornamentation.
Wall: Single, 1-3 µm thick.
Color in Water: Hyaline.
Melzer's Reaction: Not distinctive.
Comments: The hyaline, KOH-soluble ornamentation of spores
of Genea spp. has been found only in one other genus of the
Northern Hemisphere, Gilkeya.
View photos of Genea spores
Sporocarp Characters
Shape and Size: Subglobose to irregular, with an apical
opening to a single chamber and a basal tuft of mycelium, 0.3-3 cm in
diameter.
Peridium: Brown or black; verrucose, often with guard
hairs at the margin of the apical opening, in some species tomentose
overall.
Gleba: A single, uniform to irregular chamber with a
verrucose lining similar to the peridium; the lining overlies white to
gray flesh which contains a generally continuous, embedded palisade of
inamyloid asci.
Odor: Fungoid to strongly garlicky or pungent.
View photos of Genea sporocarps