ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS, A. ORYZAE, AND ASSOCIATED 
SPECIES 
Charles Thom and Margaret B. Church 
(Received for publication August 30, 1920) 
Cultures of fermented food products of the Orient made from rice, 
other cereals, and soy beans show a number of characteristic types of Asper- 
gillus. Some of these are manifestly only contaminations. A few of 
them are so closely identified with these food products as to call for com- 
parative study to determine their significance in the fermentation processes 
under investigation. These organisms are recorded under the names 
A. flavus Link, A. oryzae Ahlb., A. Wentii Wehmer, and A. tamari Kita. 
Study of cultures from many correspondents and from a wide variety of 
foodstuffs shows clearly that these forms are not limited to the Oriental 
fermentation industries but are cosmopolitan. The numerous strains 
found align themselves into groups of closely related forms which may for 
convenience be considered here under three series names, Aspergillus flavus- 
oryzae, A. Wentii, and A. tamari. 
Aspergillus flavus-oryzae Series 
The sake industry of Japan is based upon the diastatic power of Asper- 
gillus oryzae (Ahlb.) Cohn.^ The organism as actually used is a well- 
marked form and its activities have been extensively discussed. Cultures / 
of this species which have been distributed widely from the Centralstelle'^ 
at Amsterdam show the morphology and culture reactions clearly described 
by Wehmer^. Among large numbers of mold cultures from many sources 
only one culture which might be confused with the sake organism has been 
received from a source unconnected with the Oriental fermentation indus- 
tries. 
When, however, numerous cultures from the soy or shoyu industry of 
Japan and China are brought together, a whole series of forms are found 
which bridge the gap morphologically between A . oryzae as the sake organism 
and A. flavus as described and distributed also by Wehmer {loc. cit., p. 81). 
^ Cohn, F. Ueber Schimmelpilze als Gahrungserreger (A. oryzae). Jahresb. Schlesisch. 
Gesellsch. f. vaterland. Cultur 61 (1883): 226-229. Breslau, 1884. 
2 Centralstelle fiir Pilzkulturen, Roemer Visscherstraat i, Amsterdam. 
2 Wehmer, C. Die Pilzgattung Aspergillus in morphologischer, physiologischer, und 
systematischer Beziehung unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung der mitteleuropaeischen 
Species. Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Geneve 33^: 1-156. Pis. 1-5. 1901. This paper 
is commonly cited as Wehmer, Monograph (Monogr.). 
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