Truffle-like Fungi of North Temperate Forests
This website is a digital guide to the truffle-like fungi of North Temperate forests. Use this website to identify truffle-like fungi collected from the field or use it as an educational tool to help you learn more about the world below-ground. When available, we provide numerous high-resolution color images of spores and sporocarps representative of each genus for these purposes.
For those of you new to truffling and truffle-like fungi, an introduction to and a general overview of truffling and truffle ecology has been provided on the "Truffle Basics" page. In a movie on this page, the renowned Dr. James Trappe demonstrates the art of truffling.
We also provide two "keys" for the identification of truffle-like fungi. You can identify your specimen to the genus level using either spore or sporocarp characteristics. These keys are based largely on microscopic characteristics of the fungi. You must evaluate an array of characteristics to continually narrow the generic choices by a process of elimination.
The information and images provided in this website will help you identify specimens to the genus level, as well as provide resources for future investigation.