Truffle Genus: Sarcosphaera

Sarcosphaera crassa ascospores scale = 7.5 µm

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

Spore Characters

The single species has hyaline, smooth, ellipsoid spores, 10-18 x 6-8 µm; it cannot be differentiated from similar-spored Peziza spp. on the basis of spores alone.

View photos of Sarcosphaera spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: Subglobose to irregular, 2-6 cm in diameter.
Peridium: Dirty white to brown. Smooth to minutely roughened.
Gleba: A hollow chamber or occasionally 2-4 chambers formed by infolding of the sporocarp walls. In youth, dingy gray but becoming deep dingy violet at maturity.
Odor: Not distinctive.

View photos of Sarcosphaera sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by Bernhard Auerswald (1818-1870) (1869) from Greek, sarco- (flesh) and -sphaera (sphere), hence "fleshy" sphere, in reference to the spherical shape of unopened fruiting bodies.

Distribution

Throughout the Northern Hemisphere in association with ectomycorrhizal hosts, especially Pinus species.
Season: Summer and autumn.
Species known from North Temperate Forests: One, S. coronaria (Santi ex Stend.) Pouz; the species is normally epigeous but can mature below-ground (Trappe, 1975).

Keys and Descriptions

Trappe (1975, 1979).