Desert truffles
| Terfeziaceae or Terfess | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Desert truffle (Terfezia spp.) from Avanos, Turkey | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Subphylum: | Pezizomycotina |
| Class: | Pezizomycetes |
| Order: | Pezizales |
| Family: | Terfeziaceae |
| Genera | |
|
Terfezia |
|
Terfezia
Tirmania
Mattirolomyces
The Terfeziaceae, or desert truffles, is a family of truffles (Arabic: كمأ Kamā') endemic to arid and semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean Region, North Africa, and the Middle East, where they live in ectomycorrhizal association with Helianthemum species and other ectomycorrhizal plants (including Cistus, oaks, and pines). This group consists of three genera: Terfezia, Tirmania, and Mattirolomyces. They are a few centimetres across and weigh from 30 to 300 grams (1-10 oz). Desert truffles are often used as a culinary ingredient.
Fruit-bodies (ascomata) are large, more or less spherical to turbinate (like a top), thick-walled, and solid. The asci are formed in marbled veins interspersed with sterile tissue. The asci are cylindrical to spherical, indehiscent (not splitting open at maturity), and sometimes stain blue in iodine. Ascospores are hyaline to pale brown, spherical, and uninucleate.
Desert truffles, as the name suggests, predominantly grow in the desert. They have been found in arid and semi-arid zones of the Kalahari desert, the Mediterranean basin, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the Sahara, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Croatia, and China. It is commonly said that they are formed where lightning strikes the desert sands, since they are not the most common of fungi (thus justifying their cost).
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Wikipedia