Truffle Genus: Phallogaster

Phallogaster saccatus basidiospore

Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Hysterangiales Family:Phallogastraceae

Spore Characters

Surface: Smooth.
Shape and Size: Oblong to ellipsoid to allantoid, 4-5 x 1.5-2 µm.
Wall: Single, < 0.5 µm thick.
Color in Water: Hyaline.
Melzer's Reaction: Hyaline to pale yellow.
Comments: Spores resemble Trappea, Protubera and small-spored Rhizopogon.

View photos of Phallogaster spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: Subglobose to obovoid, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, 0.5-1 (-2) cm tall, with a prominent stem and a tuft of long mycelium extending from the base into the substrate..
Peridium: Present but friable, ruptures evident. Smooth and glabrous to rough and wrinkled. Cream to pink-fleshy.
Gleba: Green to olive, separated into distinct sections by a clear to white branched gelatinous columella.
Odor: Foul-smelling.
Comments: This fungus is generally saprotrophic on wood.

View photos of Phallogaster sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by Andrew Pierce Morgan (1836-1907) (1892) from Latin, phallo- (for the mushroom genus Phallus) and -gaster (literally "stomach" but in mycology generally referring to Gateromycetes, i.e. puffballs) henc, "Phallod-like puffball" in reference to the morphological affinities of this genus to the stinkhorns (the genera in the family Phallaceae).

Distribution

Eastern North America, and Europe.
Species known from North Temperate Forests: One, P. saccatus.

Keys and Descriptions

Morgan (1892).