Truffle Genus: Nivatogastrium
 Nivatogastrium nubigenum basidiospore |
Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Agaricales Family: Stropharicaceae |
Spore Characters
Surface: Smooth.
Shape and Size: Longitudinally asymmetric, ellipsoid to almond-shaped, 7-13 x 5-8 µm; attachment nipple angled to the spore axis.
Wall: 3-layered, but appearing single-layered at all but the highest magnifications, with a narrow, apical pore.
Color in Water: Pale golden brown.
Melzer's Reaction: Not distinctive.
View photos of Nivatogastrium spores
Sporocarp Characters
Shape and Size: Appearing as an unopened mushroom, 3-6 cm tall, 2-6 cm broad, with an obvious stem.
Peridium: Pale to deep yellow-brown, often with darker brown streaks. Sometimes fading to white with age. Smooth or scaly, somewhat viscid in wet conditions, but often shiny when dry. Stem color similar to that of cap.
Gleba: Irregularly chambered or with contorted and anastomosed gills. Dull to bright cinnamon brown at maturity. Usually totally enclosed by the inturned margin of the cap. Stem continuous as a columella through the center of the gleba to the cap.
Odor: Fruity, of bubblegum.
Comments: Nivatogastrium is related to the mushroom genus Pholiota in the family Strophariaceae; the two cannot be differentiated by spores alone; however, Nivatogastrium likely depends on animal mycophagy for spore dispersal because, unlike Pholiota, it cannot discharge its spores into the air.
View photos of Nivatogastrium sporocarps