Truffle Genus: Sphaerozone
 Sphaerozone ellipsosporum ascospores |
Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Ascomycota Order: Pezizales Family: Pezizaceae |
Spore Characters
Surface: Ornamented with irregular rods or cones, 3-6 µm tall.
Shape and Size: Globose, 16-20 µm in diameter, excluding ornamentation.
Wall: Single, thin.
Color in Water: At first, hyaline, later red-brown.
Melzer's Reaction: Not distinctive.
Comments: Spores of S. ostiolatum are not easily differentiated from those of Choiromyces venosus, and in youth, resemble spores of some Pachyphloeus species. Sphaerozone ostiolatum, however, is known only from England and Europe and at maturity its spores are much darker brown than those of the other two genera.
View photos of Sphaerozone spores
Sporocarp Characters
Shape and Size: Globose to convoluted, with an apical opening that leads into a central cavity, 0.5-1.5 cm in diameter.
Peridium: Lacking, the outer surface of the sporocarp a pale brown hymenium.
Gleba: Lacking, the basal tissue instead supports the outer hymenial surface.
Odor: Not known.
View photos of Sphaerozone sporocarps