DESCRIPTION
Cultivation Level : - Difficult
Substrates : - Straw/Wood/Sawdust
Temps : Colonizing/Fruiting - 70-75/55-65
The genus Cordyceps consists of clublike parasites that attack underground puffballs or insects. The puffball-parasitizing species are cool enough (see Cordyceps ophioglossoides for an example, and see the Key to Mycotrophs for a key to 5 North American species), but the bug parasites are astounding. They erupt from insects, bringing to mind the infamous scene in Alien in which John Hurt has a very bad meal.Cordyceps militaris is the best-known and most frequently collected bug-killing Cordyceps, but there are dozens of "entomogenous" species in North America. The victim for Cordyceps militaris is a pupa or larva (usually of a butterfly or moth). Its mycelium colonizes the living insect and mummifies it, keeping it alive just long enough to generate the biomass it needs to produce the mushroom--a "spore factory" that allows the Cordyceps to reproduce.
This item features high quality, live, liquid culture suspensions (not spores), in 10 ml. luer-lok syringes. Syringes are shipped capped with a separate sterile 16g syringe needle, and can be stored for several months in a cool location.