Abstract
Desert Truffles of the Australian Outback: Ecology, Ethnomycology, and Taxonomy. The Aborigines of central Australia have traditionally used desert truffles as food. Truffle hunting in the desert requires substantial ecological knowledge, as truffles occur sporadically and only with adequate and properly distributed rainfall as well as the presence of necessary soil conditions and mycorrhizal hosts. Truffles are hunted primarily by women, who look for cracks or humps in the soil caused by expansion of the truffles, which are then extracted with digging sticks. The truffles are typically eaten raw or baked or roasted in ashes. Seven truffle species are recorded from the Australian Outback, including three that have been only recently described.
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Acknowledgements
Trappe’s participation in this study was supported in part by the Australian CSIRO Division of Sustainable Ecosystems, the Australian Biological Resources Survey, and the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, Oregon. Special thanks are due to David Albrecht of the Northern Territory Museum for generous loan of herbarium collections and for use of his photographs of Mycoclelandia arenacea, and to Peter Latz for reviewing the manuscript and sharing his experience with Aboriginal bush tuckers. David Betz, Curator of Songlines Aboriginal Art Gallery, San Francisco, granted permission to use the Aboriginal painting Tjintipantu and its accompanying legend on behalf of the artist, Betsy Napangardi Lewis; their generosity enabled us to include this extraordinary work of art otherwise available only on the Songlines website.
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Trappe, J.M., Claridge, A.W., Claridge, D.L. et al. Desert Truffles of the Australian Outback: Ecology, Ethnomycology, and Taxonomy. Econ Bot 62, 497–506 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-008-9041-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-008-9041-8