STUDIES UPON SOME CHROMOGENIC FUNGI WHICH 

 DISCOLOR WOOD.* 



BY GEORGE GRANT HEDGCOCK. 



Ii / 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



The discoloration of unpainted woodwork exposed to 

 moisture and to oxidation by the air is a familiar phenom- 

 enon. Of course much of this discoloration is due to the 

 dirt and soot which accumulate on the surface of boards 

 in addition to the chemical changes which take place 

 through weathering. There is also a class of stains of an 

 entirely different nature and more striking to the eye. 

 These occur on freshly sawn lumber in piles. It was in 

 the investigation of the most important of these lumber 

 stains in the study of the western yellow pine, Pinus 

 pondtrosa^ under Dr. Hermann von Schrenk of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley Laboratory, of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, that the studies upon which this 

 paper is based were begun. In addition to the blue stain 

 in pine lumber, brown, black, pink, purple and yellow 

 stains and blotches were noted, not only on pine boards, 

 but also on gum, poplar and other kinds. These were 

 found to be caused by a number of fungi, some of which 

 were quite different from that which causes the blue stain 

 of the western yellow pine, viz: Ceratostomella pilifera 

 (Fr.) Winter. Again the bluing of wood was found to be 

 the result of the action of more than one species of 

 Ceratostomella . 



* A thesis presented to the Faculty of Washington University, in 

 candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, April, 11)00. Pub- 

 lished by permission of the Secretary of Agriculture. — Type cultures 

 of all of the species described as new in this paper have been divided into 

 parts deposited respectively in the United States National Herbarium, the 

 Physiological and Pathological Herbarium of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium. 



t Von Schrenk, H. Bull. PI. Ind. 3G: 1-27. (1903). 



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