Botanical and environmental aspects of the natural truffle beds.

In research carried out between 2006 and 2008 in the province of Rieti (Central Italy), many natural truffle beds with the most important species of truffles were analysed from different points of view. The following are the preliminary results regarding the natural truffle beds of T. magnatum and T. melanosporum. The phytosociological data indicate that the sites of T. melanosporum are included in the phytosociological alliances of Carpinion orientalis Horvat 1958 and Teucrio siculi-Quercenion cerridis Ubaldi (1988) 1995 em. Scoppola and Filesi 1995. T. magnatum sites are included in the phytosociological alliances of Salicion albae Soó 1930 em. Moor 1958 and Alnion incanae Pawlowski in Pawlowski and Wallish 1928 in the riparian environment and in the alliances of Tilio-Acerion Klika 1955, Carpinion orientalis and occasionally Geranio versicoloris-Fagion Gentile 1970 in the hilly woods. The floristic data show several endemic taxa: this means the ecosystems are well conserved, without much human impact. The biological spectrum shows a high percentage of Hemicryptophytes, followed by Therophytes in T. melanosporum and by Phanerophytes in T. magnatum. The chorological spectrum shows a prevalence of Mediterranean s.l. chorology for T. melanosporum and Paleotemperate for T. magnatum. These data are important to support programs to conserve and manage natural truffle beds, to improve the production level and suitability of the environment for efficient truffle cultivation.