The most common truffle type here is terfezia, an off-white, sponge-surfaced variety that looks rather like the rocks dotting much of the flat sand and gravel plains of Iraq’s south. That hard terrain perhaps explains the need for meteorological fireworks. Thunderclaps crack the surface of the ground like an eggshell, some say, allowing the microscopic spores to spread below the sand to flourish.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 07, 2019 11:03 UTC