Heleococcum aurantiacum: an Uncommon Weed Fungus of Mushroom Compost

Abstract

MUSHROOM compost, if correctly prepared, is a selective medium for the mycelium of the cultivated mushroom. Under commercial conditions, however, various adverse factors may give rise to the production of a medium encouraging the growth of other fungus ‘weeds’, invasion by which may cause greater or lesser competition to the developing mushroom spawn. Some of these fungus invaders, such as Oedocephalum sp., Papulaspora byssina and Coprinus sp., are common ; others, such as Sporendonema purpurascens and Pseudobalsamia microspora, occur sporadically; one or two are extremely rare, and of these latter the fungus Heleococcum aurantiacum has only occurred twice in samples examined in these laboratories.