First report of Tuber aestivum var. uncinatum from Iran based on morphological and molecular characteristics

Abstract

Truffles are the most delicious, rare and most expensive edible fungi in the world. Interest on truffles has continuously grown in Iran during the past two decades. The oldest data on Iranian truffles were reported by Chatin who proposed the names <em>Terfezia aphroditis</em> Chatin and <em>T. hanotauxii</em> Chatin for samples collected in Iran (Chatin 1897, Esfandiari & Petrak 1950).During the last 70 years, several species have been added to the checklist of Iran's desert truffles (Daneshpajuh 1991, Ammarellou <em>et al</em>. 2014, Jamali 2016).