Economic damage to cyclamen growth by sclerotia of Leucocoprinus birnbaumii

Abstract

An undescribed economic damage to cyclamen growth, in which a great number sclerotia of L. birnbaumii grew on the surface of the soil in flower pots of cyclamen, was observed in September 2008 at a greenhouse in Funabashi city, Chiba prefecture, Japan. The sclerotia were white to beige, subglobose to elliptical or pyriform, 500－820 μm in diam. The present study was conducted to clarify the relationship between sclerotia and L. birnbaumii by phylogenetic analyses on the basis of sequence typing of the ITS and D1/D2 regions. Results showed that the sclerotia and L. birnbaumii were regarded as same species.