Tuber brumale Vittadini

The Brumale truffle or black winter truffle(Tuber brumale Vittadini)

DIFFUSION:it is largely diffused in Italy(from the north to the south) and in various european countries.

PICKING AREAS:it grows in the same areas as the precious black truffle but also adapts well in less suitable areas,with heavy clay type soil,with less limestone and little gravel.It grows well in soils which are rich in organic matter and with little sun.It grows in a place from 200 to 1000 metres above sea level and prefers hot and sunny places.

COMMERCIAL VALUE:it always has quite a high value thanks to its good organoleptic characteristics.
PICKING TIME:from mid November to mid March.

Tuber brumale Vittad. Monographia tuberacearum p.37, pl I fig.6 (1831)
Ascocarp Morphology. Ascocarp subglobose or globose or lobed, orifice or cavity absent (often with a basal depression), 0.5-5 cm in diameter, black (blackish-brown, purplish-black), with warts, warts flat (sometimes) or angulated, color of spore-bearing tissue grey or black (purplish-black), veins large and rare. Peridium 100-150 micron, outermost layers 70-100 micron, red-brown, anatomical structure pseudoparenchymatic with angular cells or pseudoparenchimatic with roundish cells, innermost layers 30-50 micron, color hyaline or yellow-brown, anatomical structure plectenchymatic, external cystidia absent.

Asci ans spores Morphology. Asci globose, major axis 70-96 micron, minor axis 60-75 micron, number of spores per ascus 2-5, irregularly clustered.

Spores ellipsoid, major axis 26-31 micrometer lenght, minor axis 18-23 micrometer lenght, color yellow or pale brown, spines; ornamentation length 3-4 micron.

Distribution. Habitat temperate; Putative plant host Quercus, or Corylus, or Tilia.

DNA polymorphism. ITS restriction pattern with EcoRI 300-350 bp, or 550-600 bp; SphI 900-950 bp; HincII 50-100 bp, or 300-350 bp, or 500-550 bp; DNA sequence ID of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions AF001010.

Mycorrhizae morphology. Mycorrhizae emanting hyphae absent, or rare; anatomy of emanating hyphae: clamps absent; color of emanating hyphae hyaline; color of very tip whitish, or ochre, yellowish brown; color of older parts ochre, yellowish brown, or brown; cystidia absent, or present; needle like; color pale yellow; intercalate swelling absent; ramification absent; anatomy of the mantle pseudoparenchymatus with epidermoid hyphal cells" like a puzzle".