MONOVERTICILLATA 165 



Species description based upon NRRL 718 isolated in 1938, from canned 

 blueberries, by Dr. E. J. Cameron and associates, National Canners Asso- 

 ciation, Washington, D. C. This was one of two Penicillia isolated by 

 these investigators and submitted to Thom for identification. They were 

 subsequently incorporated into the NRRL Collection without name, but 

 were early recognized as different: One produces large striate ascospores 

 and is citsd by Raper and Fennell (1948) as the type for their new species 

 PenicUUum striatum (see p. 606); the second produces abundant, large 

 sclerotia and constitutes the type of the species under consideration (see 

 also Raper and Fennell, 1948). In their paper published in 1940, Williams, 

 Cameron, and Williams reported the sclerotia of the latter mold to be un- 

 usually heat-tolerant, being able to withstand a temperature of 90.5°C. for 

 30 to 40 minutes. The culture also was reported to be able to grow (or 

 survive) in a high vacuum. Williams, et al. reported the successful isola- 

 tion of the mold from three of five soil samples collected from blueberry 

 fields and heated in the laboratory to 180°F. for 25 minutes. They failed, 

 however, to distinguish between the form which produced ascospores and 

 that which produced sclerotia — in fact, they apparently regarded the two 

 strains as representing different aspects of the same fungus which they 

 reported as an undescribed species of Penicillium. Their report failed to 

 say whether both types, sclerotial and ascosporic, were reisolated from soil 

 or whether the sclerotial form only was so obtained. 



The type strain of Penicillium lapidosum is characterized particularly 

 by the abundant sclerotia which it produces. In appearance and texture, 

 these are strongly suggestive of the young, sclerotioid perithecia which 

 characterize certain ascosporic Penicillia such as P. parvum, P. baarnense, 

 and P. asperum. At no time, however, have we observed any evidence of 

 ascospore formation in this strain — the bodies remaining hard and sclero- 

 tioid indefinitely. 



A second culture, essentially duplicating NRRL 718, isolated at Baarn 

 in 1939, was received in June 1946, from the Centraalbureau as Penicillium 

 mangini Duche and Heim. This is now maintained in our Collection as 

 NRRL 2084. The above cultures seem to agree reasonably well with 

 Duche and Heim's description both in the character of the sclerotia pro- 

 duced and in the manner in which the penicilli are borne on trailing aerial 

 hyphae. Furthermore, the penicilli are not consistentl}^ monoverticillate 

 but frequently produce branched structures of the type illustrated by Duch^ 

 and Heim (1931). Were it not for the fact that Duche, in personal con- 

 ference with us in our Laboratory and with the cultures in question before 

 him (January 1947), indicated that his species was originally based upon a 

 different type of organism, we would have concluded that NRRL 718 and 

 2084 accurately represented P. mangini. However, since these forms ap- 



