Pochonia

{{Short description|Genus of fungi}}

{{Automatic taxobox

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| taxon = Pochonia

| authority = Bat. & Fonseca, 1965

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PochoniaBat., Fonseca OM (1965) Publicações Inst. Micol. Recife 462: 4 is a genus of fungi within the order Hypocreales and is described as anamorphic Metacordyceps; eight species are described.{{cite book |vauthors=Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA |title=Dictionary of the Fungi |edition=10th |publisher=CABI |location=Wallingford |year=2008|page=150 |isbn=978-0-85199-826-8}} Previously placed in the genus Verticillium, these fungi are known to be pathogenic to nematodes and are being developed and commercialized as biological pesticides.{{cite web|url=http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/ppi/rhizo2/pochonia.htm |title=RRes - PPM Department - the nematophagous fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia |accessdate=December 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719182114/http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/ppi/rhizo2/pochonia.htm |archivedate=July 19, 2011 }}

The genus name of Pochonia is in honour of Jacques Pochon (1907-1978), who was a French doctor and microbiologist from the Pasteur Institute.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}

Pochonia has been seen to contain ketamine. {{cite journal | last=Teng | first=Si-Qiong | title=Polyketides from the fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia and their bioactivities | journal=Phytochemistry |trans-title=Phytochemistry | publisher=Elsevier | year=2023 | volume=213 | doi=10.1016/j.phytochem.2023.113747 }}

The genus was circumscribed by Augusto Chaves Batista and Ozório José de Menezes Fonseca in Publ. Inst. Micol. Univ. Recife vol.462 on page 4 in 1965.