Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Trouble With Truffles

A chinese truffle is threatening native truffles in Europe, according to this article from BBC News. The discovery that the Chinese black truffle (Tuber indicum) had established in the wild in Italy seems to have come as no surprise to scientists, who are at once disheartened and concerned about the potential impact to the prized native Perigord white truffle (Tuber melanosporum). You can read the full story in a letter in the journal New Phytologist (hooray for free content!). Also, keep in mind that this is more than just an ecological issue - truffles are an agricultural product that fetches a high price, and Europeans are none too happy about even allowing black truffles to be imported from China.

Thanks to biosparite for sending in a link to the article, and for suggesting the title...really, if I could just get you guys to actually write the posts for me too, I'd be all set ;-).

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