Truffle Genus: Neosecotium

Neosecotium macrosporum basidiospore

Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Agaricales Family: Agaricaceae

Spore Characters

Surface: Smooth at first, becoming warty to echinulate.
Shape and Size: Globose, subglobose, to ovate, 13.5-18 µm x 12-15 µm, sterigmal attachment prominent, apical pore present.
Wall: Exosporium and endosporium together, 3-5 µm thick.
Color in Water: Yellow-brown to brown.
Melzer's Reaction: Dark red-brown.

View photos of Neosecotium spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: Nearly elliptic to globose with a prominent stem and columella, 1-3 cm high and 1-2 cm thick.
Peridium: Smooth, not separating from the stem. Yellow-brown to pale brown with the lower portion nearly white.
Gleba: Chambered, developing into a powdery mass at maturity. Brown to cinnamon.
Odor: Not stated.

Name Derivation

Named by preeminent American mycologists and colleagues Alexander Smith (1904-1986) and Rolf Singer (1906-1994) from Latin, Neo- (new) and -secotium (a loculate system) (Singer and Smith, 1960).

Distribution

North America.
Species known from North Temperate Forests: One, Neosecotium macrosporum. Another species is distributed in Africa, N. africanum.

Keys and Descriptions

Type described by Lloyd (1903) as Secotium macrosporum. Singer and Smith (1960).