ASYMMETRICA-FASCICULATA 547 



from 2 to 12 mm. in length with green conidial masses, in age often becoming feathery 

 and sterile; conidiophores fairlj^ coarse, with walls granulate or punctate; penicilli 

 once- or twice-branched and bearing verticils of metulae and sterigmata; conidia 

 elliptical toward globose. Colony reverse ranged from yellow to reddish or red in 

 age, and colonies were characterized by the production of some aromatic ester. 



A culture (NRRL 985) derived from Boas' type, which was examined in the current 

 study, conforms with the above description reasonably well except for an absence of 

 large heavily sporulating coremia. Sterile feathery overgrowths are occasionally 

 produced as reported by Boas and as confirmed by Thorn (1930, p. 418), and colonies 

 regularly produce an aromatic odor approximating, if not actually duplicating, that 

 of typical Penicillium granulatum strains such as NRRL 2036 and 1575. Further- 

 more, colonies on malt agar often tend to become strongly fasciculate in age and to 

 develop reddish or red shades as described originally by Boas, and as sometimes seen 

 in our cultures of P. granulalum. The culture in question exhibits strain individual- 

 ity that has been successfully preserved (in part) for more than thirty years in labora- 

 tory culture; nevertheless, we do not believe that it differs from P. granulalum suffi- 

 ciently to warrant retention of the species. 



Occurrence and Significance 



Penicillium coryrnbiferum Westling and P. granulatum Bainier appear 

 to be widely distributed but not particulariy abundant in soils. Repre- 

 sentatives of both species have been isolated from decaying vegetation 

 also, but their role in decomposition processes has not been investigated. 



Penicillium conjmhiferum commonly appears on bulbs and fleshy root- 

 stocks, and may under some conditions become actively parasitic. Van 

 Beyma (1928c) isolated the species repeatedly from tulip bulbs in Holland, 

 and in some cases found them to be entirely covered and permeated with 

 the mycelium of the fimgus. Weber (1932) reported a similar infection 

 of tulip, hyacinth, and narcissus bulbs in Denmark, attributing the disease 

 to P. conjmhiferum. Ghamrawy (1933) isolated the same species of Peni- 

 cillium from Cape hyacinth bulbs (of Dutch origin) in a warehouse in 

 London. Inoculation experiments showed that P. corymbiferum alone was 

 capable of rotting bulbs when planted in soil. Infection appeared to occur 

 through wounds. Moore (1943) isolated from Scilla bulbs a Penicillium, 

 identified by George Smith as belonging to the P. corymhijerum-hirsulum 

 group. 



Kadow and Anderson (1940) found a Penicillium, identified as P. hirsu- 

 ium (see above), to cause a serious root-rot of horse-radish in Illinois. 

 Control was effected by dusting the harvested root-stocks with sulphur. 

 Boning (1936) had earlier reported a Penicillium disease of horse-radish in 

 Germany, but failed to identify the pathogen. 



The chemistry of aromatic substances produced by Penicillium granu- 

 latum and P. expansum was investigated by Blinc and Krivic (1940) and 

 these appeared to be due to esters of unsaturated fatty acid. 



Penicillium granulatum was reported by Dalvi (1930) to represent one 



