Penicillium species

A slow to rapidly-growing fungus that produces green, blue-green, yellow-green, gray-green, orange to red colony with an uncolored or yellow, orange, yellowish- brownish, deep red to reddish-purple reverse, within fourteen days, when incubated at 25oC (77oF). Some species may produce a fruity odor. It is a common fungus isolated worldwide and can be isolated from air, soil, plants, sand dunes, sewage, swamps, mangrove swamps, salt marshes, caves, fresh and salt water, compost, cotton, cellulose, textiles, caterpillars, bird feathers, animal dung, leather, wooden furniture, bees and beehives, flour-based foodstuffs, optical lenses, paints, fruits, and fruit juices. Some species produce a mycotoxin. Rarely an opportunistic human pathogen in corneal infections and systemic infections. It also causes hypersensitivity pneumonitis in cheese workers, humidifier lung disease, woodman=s lung disease, and cork worker’s (suberosis) disease.

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