60 



CALYPTOSPORA GOEPPERTIANA 



1 1 can live at any rate for a Dumber of years in the Cowberry, 

 in which the mycelium is perennial, hut in the Fir the mycelium 

 is short-lived and perishes when the leaves prematurely fall off. 

 In Europe only the Cowberry has been noticed as its teleuto- 

 spore-host, but in the rnited States it is recorded on eight 

 other specie* of Vacdnium (including V. M;/rtilhis A. (Iray); 

 strange to say, the fungus has not yet been observed on the Fir 

 in America. Besides Abies pectinata, it is recorded in this 

 country on A. Nordmanniana (from Wales, etc.), and the secidia 



have occurred or been produced 

 artificially elsewhere on at least 10 



other species of the genus. A g d 



account is given in the Kew Bulletin 

 (1907) from which and other sources 

 the following is drawn. 



The most noticeable effect is 

 produced upon the Cowberry. The 

 secidiospores ripen in July and 

 August, and if one of them is 

 carried to a young branch of the 

 Cowberry, its germ-tube penetrates 

 through a stoma (or, it is said, bores 

 its way through the outer epidermis 

 wall), and penetrates into the cortex, 

 where it grows and next spring ex- 

 tends itself into the new shoots. 

 These present a remarkable appear- 

 ance : the internodes are lengthened, 

 they become spongy and strongly 

 swollen and coloured red or pink, 

 VacciniumVitis-idaea, Scotland afterwards turning brown (Fig. 36). 



^fpecUnat^b] lea/tf A.' The infested plants are taller than 



Nordmanniana, with *cidia, im i n f e sted ones and have smaller 

 Torquay (the latter reduced). 



leaves. The mycelium perennates 



in the affected shoots, and passes each spring into the newly 



formed ones ; thus the diseased branches usually occur in 



clusters. Finally the mycelium penetrates into the epidermis, 



and the teleutospores are formed within the epidermal cells 



Fig. 36 

 tiana 



Calyptospora Goepper- 

 An affected branch of 



