Hi Ayad

where did you found these fruiting bodies? Look like Terfezia spp. This genus develop underground fruiting bodies similar to truffles.

Do you have a picture showing the inner part (e.g. gleba)?

Teferzia arenaria?

Dears : Fabiano & Lorenzo It is Truffles from the Iraqi desests. I dont think it is belong to Terfezia spp. Regards Fabiano Sillo Lorenzo Moncini Oadi Matny

Interesting. I have seen a lot of these fruiting bodies, but this size is huge. WOW

Thanks for sharing this picture

Yes, this year the fruits of the mushroom were bigger than in the picture, did not happen for decades, especially in Syria

I think the is truffles Tirmania nivea .

Thanks

Never seen before.

Never seen.

Oadi Matny Thank you Dr. Oadi perfect.

Those are what is commonly called "desert truffles". I just examined a shipment of a smaller kind that was sent to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia.

@ Professor Ayad Abdulwahid Alheeti

It is an Ascomycetous fungus Tirmania nivea (= Terfezia ovalispora) of family Pezizaceae, commonly known as desert truffle. The desert of Anbar province in Iraq is rich in desert truffles. Tirmania nivea has nutritional value owing to its proteins, carbohydrates, fats and fibers. It also possess hepato-protective, immune-modulating, antidepressant, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Thanks!

I think it's about Tirmania nivea ( , Dikarya , Ascomycota , Pezizomycotina , Pezizomycetes , Pezizomycetidae , Pezizales , Terfeziaceae , Terfezia ) It forms mycorrhizas with a range of flowering plants. AL-WHAIBI (2009) provided a general review of desert plants and mycorrhizas.

Hi Ayad,

According to index fungorum (http://www.indexfungorum.org/), Tirmania nivea belongs to Tuberacee. The old name was Tuber niveum. However, in the past was also named as Terfezia ovalispora, as Arvind and Beatriz rightly wrote.

By the way, thanks for sharing this interesting picture.

Yes, this year the fruits of this fungus (desert truffles) were bigger than in the picture, did not happen for many years, especially in Iraq

Dear Ayad,

As we have not worked on plant fungi, I have no idea. However, you can make wet mount preparation in PHOL stain or Narayan stain to study the morphology of fungi. Both the stains are developed by us in 1990 and 1998,respectively. Further, you can try to isolate the fungus on mycological media, such as potato dextrose agar, Sabouraud dextrose agar, and Pal sunflower seed medium and study the gross and microscopic characteristic of isolate to identify to genus level.

You can download our papers on PHOL stain and Narayan stain from Research Gate.

I hope you will succeed in your mission.

With best wishes and good luck,

Prof.Dr.Mahendra Pal