Tuber lyonii

Small native brown truffle often found in Pecan orchards.

Black Truffle

Pecan truffle (Tuber lyonii)

Photo of several Tuber lyonii (Pecan Truffles) showing the the whitish gleba and the whitish smooth peridium.
Tuber lyonii (Pecan Truffles) Source Wikimedia Commons

Synonyms

  • American brown truffle

Description

The fruit body T. lyonii a light brown outer skin that can be rounded, have “lobes”, and may be furrowed or smooth. Relatively small truffles, the fruiting bodies can reach up to 12 centimeters across at maturity, though most fall between 0.5 and 2 centimeters (3 to 10 g).

Distribution

Naturally found in North America in a range extending from the northern Mexico states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas into Québec, Canada and from the eastern seaboard out to the southern reaches of the Rocky Mountains.

Map showing the states where Tuber lyonii is found
Map of the known distribution of the pecan truffle in North America. States within the United States that have known pecan truffle collections are colored in blue and shown with standard abbreviations. The Canadian province of Québec is shown in purple (QC) whereas the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon (NL) and Tamalpais (TM) are shown in orange (Grupe et al. 2017).

North American Presence

Native from North America. Commonly found in orchards and in the wild but only commercialized by a few foragers. Most producing orchard are "accidental" orchards (naturally occurring), but some experiment active cultivation of the Pecan Truffle. While the known distribution of pecan truffles is incomplete, collections have been made from New Mexico east to Florida and from Québec south to northern Mexico. However, most of records are from Georgia and Florida (Grupe et al 2017).

  • Arkansas
    (Native)
  • Connecticut
    (Native)
  • Georgia
    (Native)
  • Indiana
    (Native)
  • Iowa
    (Native)
  • Kentucky
    (Native)
  • Louisiana
    (Native)
  • Maine
    (Native)
  • Michigan
    (Native)
  • Missouri
    (Native)
  • New Mexico
    (Native)
  • North Carolina
    (Native)
  • Ohio
    (Native)
  • Oklahoma
    (Native)
  • Quebec
    (Native)
  • Tennessee
    (Native)
  • Texas
    (Native)
  • West Virginia
    (Native)

Seasons

September – March

Spores

Mycorrhiza

Aroma, Flavor and Usage

These truffles exhibit a distinct nutty and earthy flavor when mature.

Dog harvested truffles tend to be of better quality as the dog tend to identify mature truffles. Raking indiscriminately gets all truffles, ripe or not, and results in unreliable crop quality.

Image Gallery

References

  • Grupe II, A.C., Brenneman, T., Bonito, G. and Smith M. E.. 2017. The Pecan Truffle (Tuber lyonii): A Gourmet True Native to the Southeastern United States

    More Information

Contributors