Coniophora eremophila and Antrodia
sinuosa cause brown heartrot in living lemon trees in
southern Arizona and California. They can
be distinguished in the field by differences in rot
characteristics. Both have a high optimum growth temperature
of approximately 35°C. Coniophora eremophila has
a cultural morphology typical of other Coniophora
species and did not fruit in culture. Antrodia
sinuosa cultures were morphologically similar to
previous reports and fruited readily under laboratory
conditions. Mating tests with
homokaryotic single spore isolates showed it to have a
heterothallic bipolar mating system. The decay capacity of
C. eremophila on
lemon wood test blocks under laboratory conditions was low
compared to that of A. sinuosa, five other brown
rot fungi, and three white rot fungi.