Truffle Genus: Picoa

Picoa sp. ascus containing immature spores scale = 25 µm Picoa melospora ascospores

Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Ascomycota Order: Pezizales Family: Pyrenomataceae

Spore Characters

Surface: Smooth or minutely ornamented.
Shape and Size: Globose, 25-30 x 19-43 µm.
Wall: Single, thin to 2 µm thick.
Color in Water: Hyaline.
Melzer's Reaction: Not distinctive.

View photos of Picoa spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: Subglobose to irregular, 1-7 cm in diameter.
Peridium: Smooth to verrucose or with short hairs, brown to nearly black.
Gleba: Solid, with gray to olive or brown fertile pockets separated by pallid veins.
Odor: Fungoid to pungent or garlicky.

View photos of Picoa sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by Italian obstretrician and mycologist (1800-1865) Carlo Vittadini (1831) in honor of the 18th-century Turian physician and naturalist Vittorio Pico.

Distribution

Europe and west Asia, in association with ectomycorrhizal hosts in semi-arid woodlands and shrub fields.
Season: Late summer and autumn.
Species known from North Temperate Semi-arid Woodlands and Shrub Fields: One, P. juniperi.

Keys and Descriptions

No inclusive keys exist.