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Fungal parasites of grasses and cereals: their role as food or medicine, now and in the past

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Sheldon Aaronson
Sheldon Aaronson*
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing NY 11367, USA
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Extract

With the use of grain comes a variety of parasitic fungi – some benign, others dangerous and even toxic. Here are surveyed some of the fungi to which ancient and modern grain is subject, and some of the consequences for human populations. More specifically, several parasitic fungi, Claviceps, purpurea, C. Paspali, Ustilago maydis and U. esculenta, have infested cereal grains and grasses in ancient and recent times and may have served as a source of human foods or medicine.

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 63 , Issue 239 , June 1989 , pp. 247 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1989

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