The main cause of cobweb disease on cultivated mushrooms. Its asexual stage, Cladobotryum mycophilum, spreads a coarse, fast-growing, cotton-like web over the casing and mushrooms; overgrown mushrooms rot and collapse, and germinating spores cause brown cap spots. Multigene work shows most farm cobweb isolates belong here, though they were long misidentified as H. rosellus. Hosts include Agaricus bisporus, king oyster, oyster mushroom, enoki and Lyophyllum decastes.
Not edible. Infected mushrooms rot and are unsaleable.
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Mycology is an evolving science: names, classifications and safety information change as research advances. Entries are compiled from cited sources and reviewed, but may be incomplete or out of date — check the sources, and never rely on this library alone to identify or eat a mushroom.
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Mycoparasite of agaric fruit bodies in nature (e.g. Agaricus xanthodermus, decaying stipes and plant debris) and of cultivated mushrooms on casing or substrate blocks. One trial linked lower casing moisture to more cobweb.
Distribution
Europe (Spain, Ireland, Germany), North America (USA), South Africa and East Asia (Korea, China).
Characteristics
Symptoms: weft-like, cottony mycelium, usually white but sometimes gray, pink or yellow, covering casing, pins and mushrooms; brown cap spotting from germinating spores; infected mushrooms rot. Spores: abundant dry conidia that air movement, fans and watering disperse easily. Culture: rapid growth on MEA and PDA (colonies established in about 48-72 h); produces the red pigment aurofusarin, with colonies yellowish or pinkish red depending on pH; forms microsclerotia. Identification: perithecia are hard to tell from relatives, so conidiophores, conidia and ITS/multigene sequences are used.
