{{Short description|Family of fungi}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Keme.jpg | image_caption = Desert truffle (''Terfezia'' spp.) from [[Avanos]], [[Turkey]] | taxon = Terfeziaceae | authority = Dumort. 1829<ref name="BioLib-Terfeziaceae">{{cite web |title=Terfeziaceae |url=https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id59686/ |website=BioLib |access-date=3 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112045936/https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id59686/ |archive-date=12 January 2025 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = (see text) }}
[[File:دنبلان یامچی Yamchi Truffle.jpg|thumb|Desert truffle, from [[Yamchi]], [[Iran]]]]
The '''Terfeziaceae''', or '''desert truffles''', is a family of [[truffle]]s ({{langx|ber-Latn|Tirfas}}, {{langx|ar|كمأ|Kam'}}, {{langx|tr|Dolaman}}, {{langx|ku|دۆمبەڵان|Dombelan}}, {{langx|he|כמהת הנגב|kmehat hanegev}}). The 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).
The family is endemic to arid and semi-arid areas of the [[Mediterranean Region]], [[North Africa]], and the [[Middle East]], where its members live in [[ectomycorrhiza]]l association with ''[[Helianthemum]]'' species and other ectomycorrhizal plants (including ''[[Cistus]]'', oaks, and pines). Desert truffles are often used as a culinary ingredient.
==Description== Fruit-bodies ([[ascomata]]) are large, more or less spherical to turbinate ([[Spinning top|top]]-shaped), thick-walled, and solid. The [[Ascus|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]].<ref>Cannon, P.F., Kirk, P.M. (2007). ''Fungal Families of the World''. p. 347. Singapore: CABI Publishing. 456 pp.</ref>
==Genera== According to [[BioLib]], Terfeziaceae contains the following [[genera]]:<ref name="BioLib-Terfeziaceae"/> {{linked genus list | Adelphella | Pfister, Matocec & I. Kušan | Amylascus | Trappe | Boudiera | Cooke | Calongea | Healy, Bonito & Trappe | Cazia | Trappe | Chromelosporium | Corda | Cleistoiodophanus | J.L. Bezerra & Kimbr. | Daleomyces | Setch. | Eremiomyces | Trappe & Kagan-Zur | Galactinia | (Cooke) Boud. | Glischroderma | Fuckel | Hapsidomyces | J.C. Krug & Jeng | Hydnobolites | Tul. & C. Tul. | Hydnotryopsis | Gilkey | Iodophanus | Korf | Iodowynnea | Medel, Guzmán & S. Chacón | Kalaharituber | Trappe & Kagan-Zur | Kimbropezia | Korf & W.Y. Zhuang | Malvipezia | Van Vooren | Marcelleina | Brumm., Korf & Rifai | Mattirolomyces | E. Fisch. | Muciturbo | P.H.B. Talbot | Mycoclelandia | Trappe & G.W. Beaton | Ostracoderma | Fr. | Pachyella | Boud. | Pachyphloeus | Tul. & C. Tul. | Peziza | Dill. ex Fr. | Plicaria | Fuckel | Plicariella | (Sacc.) Rehm | Rhodopeziza | Hohmeyer & J. Moravec | Ruhlandiella | Henn. | Sarcosphaera | Auersw. | Sphaerozone | Zobel | Stouffera | Kovács, Trappe | Svrcekia | Kubička | Temperantia | K. Hansen, Healy & Kovács | Terfezia | (Tul. & C. Tul.) Tul. & C. Tul. | Tirmania | Chatin | Ulurua | Trappe, Claridge & Kovács }}
==Distribution and habitat== Desert truffles have been found in arid and semi-arid zones of the [[Kalahari Desert]], the [[Mediterranean basin]], [[Syria]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Iran]], [[Iraq]], [[Kuwait]], the [[Negev desert]] in [[Israel]], the [[Sahara]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Qatar]], [[Libya]], [[Spain]], [[Greece]], [[Cyprus]], [[Hungary]], [[Croatia]], and [[China]].<ref name="isbn0-306-46632-5">Kagan-Zur V. Terfezias, a family of mycorrhizal edible mushrooms for arid zones. In: {{cite book |author1=Schlissel, Arnold |author2=Pasternak, D. |title=Combating desertification with plants |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers |location=New York |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-306-46632-8 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loizides |first=Michael |last2=Hobart |first2=Caroline |last3=Konstandinides |first3=George |last4=Yiangou |first4=Yiangos |date=January 2012 |title=Desert Truffles: the mysterious jewels of antiquity |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1468164111000508 |journal=Field Mycology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=17–21 |doi=10.1016/j.fldmyc.2011.12.004|url-access=subscription }}</ref> As the name suggests, they predominantly grow in the desert. They can be formed near Sunrose (Helianthemum) plants, but they are very rare to find and cannot be cultivated (justifying their cost).
==Uses== Desert truffles do not have the same flavor as European truffles, but tend to be more common and thus more affordable. Forest truffles (genus ''[[Tuber (fungus)|Tuber]]'') typically cost $1,000 per [[kilogram]]; Italian truffles may sell for up to $2,200 per kg, while ''Terfezia'' truffles sold as of 2002 in [[Riyadh]] for $200 to $305 a kg, and in recent years have reached, but not yet exceeded, $570.<ref name="J. Feeney" /> Israeli agricultural scientists have been attempting to domesticate ''Terfezia boudieri'' into a commercial crop.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-truffles|title=As Israel's Desert Truffles Become Scarce, a Researcher Works to Grow Them as Crops|last=Nargi|first=Lela|date=2019-07-01|website=Atlas Obscura|language=en|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref>
==Names== {{more citations needed section|date=July 2024}}
Desert truffles go by several different names. In Iran and Azerbaijan they are called ''Donbalan'' or {{Transliteration|ar|Dombal}}. In [[Turkish language|Turkish]] they are called {{Transliteration|ckb|Domalan}} in Turkiye, also ''Keme'' on the Syrian-Turkiye border. In [[Algeria]] and [[Tunisia]] they are called {{Transliteration|ar|terfez}}; the [[Bedouin]] of the [[Libyan Desert|Western Desert]] call them ''terfas ترفاس''. The [[Kuwaitis]] call them {{Transliteration|ar|fagga}} {{lang|ar|فقع}}, the [[Saudis]] {{Transliteration|ar|faq'h}} {{lang|ar|فقع}}, and in [[Syria]], and in [[Libya]] {{Transliteration|ar|terfase}} {{lang|ar|ترفاس}}; they are known by their classical Arabic name, {{Transliteration|ar|kamaa}} {{lang|ar|كمأ}}''.'' [[Iraqis]] call them {{Transliteration|ar|kamaa}}'','' {{Transliteration|ar|kima}} or {{Transliteration|ar|chima}} {{lang|ar|كمأ}}'','' depending on local dialects and in [[Oman]] they are {{Transliteration|ar|faqah}} {{lang|ar|فقع}}. The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word is {{Lang|he-latn|kmehin}} כמהין ({{Lang|he-latn|kmeha}} in singular). In Catalonia they are known as {{Lang|ca|tòfones d'arenal}} and {{Lang|ca|turmes}}. In southern Spain, they are known as {{Lang|es|turmas}} or {{Lang|es|criadillas}} and in the Canary Islands they are known as {{Lang|es|papas crias}}. In Botswana they are called ''mahupu''. In [[Hungary]] they are known as {{Lang|hu|homoki szarvasgomba}} ('sand truffles') and are sold to English-speaking nations as ''honey truffles''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trufamania.com/Mattirolomyces-truffles.htm|title=The Hungarian Sweet Truffle|work=Trufamania}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=July 2024}}
In Saudi Arabia, there are two varieties; {{Transliteration|ar|khalasi}} are oval with a black skin and a pinkish-ivory interior, and {{Transliteration|ar|zubaidi}} have a cream colour but are generally more expensive.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}
In oceanic countries, there is some confusion regarding the desert truffle, as the [[Yam (vegetable)|yam]] is often referred to as the ''common desert truffle'' as well.<ref>Tedder, M. M. Yams, a description of their cultivation on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.(Noumea: South Pacific Commission, 1974) pp. xi</ref>
==References== {{Commons category}} {{Reflist|refs= <ref name='J. Feeney'>Feeney, J: ''Desert Truffles Galore'', page 22–27. Saudi Aramco World, 2002.</ref> }} * Dıéz J, Manjón JL, Martin F. (2002) [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15572536.2003.11833230 Molecular phylogeny of the mycorrhizal desert truffles (''Terfezia'' and ''Tirmania''), host specificity and edaphic tolerance.] Mycologia 94(2): 247–259.
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[[Category:Pezizaceae]] [[Category:Edible fungi]] [[Category:Ascomycota families]] [[Category:Truffles (fungi)]]