Truffle Genus: Protubera

Protubera sabulensis basidiospore

Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Phallales Family: Protophallaceae

Spore Characters

Surface: Smooth.
Shape and Size: Ellipsoid, 4-7 x 1.5-3.5 µm; sterigmal attachment indistinct.
Wall: Single, +/- 0.5 µm thick.
Color in Water: Hyaline to pale green to somewhat pale yellow-brown.
Melzer's Reaction: No reaction.
Comments: Spores of Protubera spp. are similar to truncate Rhizopogon spores.

View photos of Protubera spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: 1-6 cm broad, globose, short pyriform to irregular or depressed.
Peridium: Present, off-white, white, pale pink or pale red, surface glabrous to finely tomentose.
Gleba: Pale gray-olive to dark gray-yellow-brown, with small to prominent, irregular chambers and possessing a distinct columella.
Odor: Absent to sharply putrid.

View photos of Protubera sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by German mycologist Alfred Möller (1895) for the swelling out of portion of the sporocarp.

Distribution

North America, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean.
Season: November and January.
Species known from North Temperate Forests: Three. Protubera sabulonensis in Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania, P. borealis and P. nipponica in Japan. Other species occur in the tropics or the Southern Hemisphere.

Keys and Descriptions

Protubera species are fully described by Malloch (1989).