Truffle Genus: Setchelliogaster

Setchelliogaster tenuipes

Setchelliogaster tenuipes
Setchelliogaster tenuipes
basidiospore

Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Order: Agaricales
Family: Bolbitiaceae

Spore Characters

Setchelliogaster cannot be separated from Hymenogaster, Descomyces, or Descolea on the basis of spores alone. It differs from Thaxterogaster, which has a fibrous, often slimy cap, by having a layer of rounded cells on its cap. Whereas Thaxterogaster is closely related to Cortinarius, Setchelliogaster is closely akin to the mushroom genus Descolea as described by Bougher and Malajczuk and the truffle-like Descomyces. It differs from Descolea, which has a prominent stem and fully exposed gills, by having a much reduced stem and contorted gills or chambers mostly enclosed within a peridium. Hymenogaster and Descomyces have no stem and small chambers totally enclosed within a peridium.

View photos of Setchelliogaster spores

Sporocarp Characters

Shape and Size: With stem and cap, resembling an unopened mushroom with its margin usually only slightly separated from the stem, 0.4-3 cm tall, 1-2 cm broad.
Peridium: Cap smooth, dry, brown to red-brown.
Stem: Appressed fibrillose, white to pale brown.
Gleba: Empty chambers formed from contorted and anastomosed gills, brown.
Odor: Not distinctive.

View photos of Setchelliogaster sporocarps

Name Derivation

Named by Czech mycologist Zdenek Pouzar (1958) in honor of the collector of the type, western U.S. mycologist William Albert Setchell (1864-1943).

Distribution

Associated with Eucalyptus species in southern Europe and California introduced from Australia.
Season: Winter and spring.
Species known from North TemperateEucalyptus Plantations: One, S. tenuipes (Setchell) Pouzar.

Keys and Descriptions

S. tenuipes is described by Singer and Smith (1959b). Another species occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.