An amino acid, lethal to New Hampshire chickens (LD,,, 150 mg/kg) was isolated from dried sclerotia of the fungus Sclerotium ro&ii (Sacc.). Purification of the rather unstable compound was effected on a cation exchange column by means of displacement chromatography and the amino acid was crystallised from 80% methanol. A structure was assigned to the compound on the basis of available chemical and physical data, namely 2(8,3(R)-2 amino-3-hydroxypent+noic acid. Confirmation of this structure was gained by direct and indirect synthetic procedures.