Rhizoctonia_crocorum
Helicobasidium purpureum
Species of fungus
Helicobasidium purpureum is a species of fungus in the subdivision Pucciniomycotina. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are corticioid (patch-forming) and are typically violet to purple. Microscopically they have auricularioid (laterally septate) basidia.[1] Helicobasidium purpureum is an opportunistic plant pathogen and is one of the causes of violet root rot of crops and other plants. DNA sequencing suggests that it is a complex of more than one species.[2] The species has a conidia-bearing anamorph in the Tuberculina persicina complex that is a parasite of rust fungi.[2]