About this fungus
Corn Smut is a fungus in the Ustilaginaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A parasitic fungus that turns kernels or other parts of a living maize plant into swollen pale galls. Mature galls rupture and release a mass of dark olive-brown to black spores.
What to check
Confirm that the growth is part of a maize plant. Common smut begins as smooth greenish-white, silvery-white or grey swellings on ears, stems, leaves or tassels. Ear and stem galls enlarge and become packed with dark powdery spores. This is a plant gall, so it has no cap, stem, gills, ring or volva.
Variation
Young galls are firm, pale and fleshy. As they mature, the interior becomes olive-brown to black and powdery, and the covering splits. Leaf and tassel galls usually remain smaller and drier than the large galls on ears and stems.
Habitat and range
A disease of living maize and closely related grasses wherever the crop is grown. It can infect any aboveground part of the plant, not just the cob. Soil-borne and wind-carried spores can persist between crops.
Food safety
Edible and good.
Use this profile to learn what to examine and compare, not as proof that a mushroom is safe to eat. Check the whole specimen and every important lookalike before reaching an identification.