Claviceps purpurea

Claviceps purpurea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Sordariomycetes
Order: Hypocreales
Family: Clavicipitaceae
Genus: Claviceps
Species:
C. purpurea
Binomial name
Claviceps purpurea
(Fr.) Tul. 1853
Ecological races
  • G1 — land grasses of open meadows and fields;
  • G2 — grasses from moist, forest, and mountain habitats;
  • G3 (C. purpurea var. spartinae) — salt marsh grasses (Spartina, Distichlis).
Claviceps purpurea
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Hymenium attachment is not applicable
Lacks a stipe
Ecology is parasitic
Edibility is deadly


Claviceps purpurea is an ergot fungus that grows on the ears of rye and related cereal and forage plants. Consumption of grains or seeds contaminated with the survival structure of this fungus, the ergot sclerotium, can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals.[1][2] C. purpurea most commonly affects outcrossing species such as rye (its most common host), as well as triticale, wheat and barley. It affects oats only rarely.

  1. ^ "ergot definition". mondofacto. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  2. ^ "ergot". Dorland's Medical Dictionary. Archived from the original on September 10, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Merck Source.