Chiang Mai Journal of Science

     Mushroom growing substrates are important for the quality, quantity and nutritional value of mushrooms produced. However, the fungal contamination in substrates is known as a major problem in mushroom cultivation. Therefore, accurate identification of contaminants may be important in order to improve mushroom cultivation to increase mushroom yield. Oyster mushroom grow bags in a mushroom farm at northern Thailand were contaminated with a Daldinia species. Contaminated oyster mushroom grow bags were brought to mycology laboratory of Center of Excellence in Fungal Research. Multi-locus phylogenies from combined LSU, ITS, RPB2 and TUB2 sequence data indicated that the contaminant Daldinia species clusters with Daldinia eschscholtzii. In this paper, D. eschscholtzii is described with a full description, color images and a phylogenetic tree of Hypoxylaceae to show the placement of the taxon. This is the first report of D. eschscholtzii associated with oyster mushroom growing substrate.