Botrytis

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Botrytis is known to be plant's, not human's worst fungal enemy. It is also capable of producing mycotoxins.  In contrast to widely held images of urban pollution and blight the persistence of an "agrarian myth" that associates life on the farm with healthful, bucolic joys ignores a fundamental reality: agriculture can be a dangerous occupation. It may act as a facultative pathogen in plants and is commonly considered as a contaminant. It has also been known to be an allergen in humans.  High levels have been known to cause minor respiratory problems.

It grows rapidly, reaching a colony size of 3 to 9 cm in diameter, following incubation at 25°C for 7 days on potato glucose agar. The texture is woolly. The surface color is white at the beginning and becomes grey to brown in time. Dark spots may be observed on the surface of the colony. Reverse is dark.

It has septate, hyaline to brown hyphae and septate, brown, large conidiophores. Conidiophores branch at their apices. These branches terminate in vesicles which bear blastoconidia on their surfaces. The blastoconidia are located on short denticles, are hyaline to brown, one-celled, and round to oval in shape.

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For more fungal descriptions and images

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