File:The field and garden vegetables of America (Page 589) (6002098773).jpg

COMMON TRUFFLE. 589
COMMON TEUFFLE.
Tuber cibarium.
On the authority of our most distinguished mycologists,
the Common Truffle has not yet been dis-
covered within the limits of the United ^ri£§9^.
States. It is said to be found abundantly
in some parts of Great Britain, particu-
larly in Wiltshire, Kent, and Hampshire.
It is collected in large quantities in some
portions of France, and is indigenous to The Truffle
other countries of Europe.
The following description by Mascall, in connection with
the engraving, will give an accurate idea of its size, form,
color, and general character : " The size rarely much exceeds
that of a large walnut. Its form is rounded, sometimes kid-
ney-shaped, and rough with protuberances. The surface,
when the truffle is young, is whitish ; but, in those that are
full grown, it is either blackish or a deep-black. The color
of the inside is whitish, with dark-blue and white, gray, red-
dish, light-brown or dark-brown veins, of the thickness of a
horse-hair, which are usually variously entangled, and which
form a kind of network, or mat. Between the veins are
numerous cavities, filled with mucilage, and small, solid
grains. These scarcely visible glands were formerly said to
be the seeds, or germs, of the young truffles. The less the
inside of the Truffle is colored with dark veins, the more ten-
der and delicious is its flesh.
" The blackish, external rind is hard, and very rough, by
means of fine fissures, grains, and protuberances ; and forms,
with its small facets (which are almost hexagonal), an ap-
pearance by which it somewhat resembles the fir-apples of
the larch. Whilst the truffle is young, its smell resembles that