fungus

Fungus Commits Floral Fraud to Fool Insects into Spreading It

Dan Industry News Release, Research, USDA

(USDA/ARS) — The spores of some fungi can linger in the environment for months or years just waiting for something to spread them elsewhere, like a gust of wind, falling rain or a passing insect or animal. Not so with Fusarium xyrophilum, a fungus found growing on two types of yellow-eyed grass in the savannas of Guyana, South America, and reported …

fungus

“Good-Guy” Fungus to Take on Killer of Oaks and Ornamental Crops

Dan Industry News Release, Specialty Crops

A beneficial soil fungus could offer a bio-based approach to battling Phytophthora ramorum, a pathogen that kills oaks, other tree species, and woody ornamentals. BioWorks, Inc. of Victor, New York, is collaborating with Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant pathologist Tim Widmer to commercially formulate the fungus, Trichoderma asperellum. The species is a mycoparasite, meaning it attacks and kills other fungi, including P. ramorum, a fungus-like …