Mycosarcoma maydis

Formerly known as Ustilago maydis, a pathogen that causes what is known as "corn smut"; in an immature tender stage, in places like Mexico, it is consumed in soups or sauces, being known colloquially worldwide as the "Mexican truffle" and locally named "huitlacoche" or "cuitlacoche".

This pathogen causes severe alterations in the tissues of the host plant (Zea mays), causing an abnormal increase in size resulting from accelerated cell division.

Inside the sori lie the sporogenous hyphae, whose tips undergo fragmentation and wall thickening to give rise to teliospores.

Teliospores globose, ovoid to irregular, thick-walled (up to 0.5 µm thick), echinulate (spiny), 7.5 to 10 µm in diameter, yellowish-brown under the microscope, and ornamented with warts evenly distributed over their entire surface.