Kelley — 6 — Mycotrophy 



available materials of the humus. At the same time Pfeffer realized 

 that the fungus was essentially a parasite which was no more than 

 kept in check by the host plant. Since the picture of mycotrophy pre- 

 sented by Pfeffer is so close to the actual phenomenon, he may 

 perhaps be considered the true discoverer of the mycorrhiza. 



Mycorrhizae Defined: — But, important as Pfeffer's paper 

 now appears, it attracted little attention and it was not until 1885 that 

 world-wide attention was suddenly drawn to fungus-roots. Just why 

 Albert Bernhard Frank's dissertation "Ueber die auf Wurzel- 

 symbiose beruhende Ernahrung gewisser Baume durch unterirdische 

 Pilze" should have had such a profound effect is for others to de- 

 termine : Suffice to say, modern mycorrhizal study dates from this 

 paper. In it, Frank had invented and defined the term in these words : 

 "Der ganze Korper ist also weder Baumwurzel noch Pilz allein, 

 sondern ahnlich der Thallus der Flechten, eine Vereinigung zweier 

 verschiedener Wesen zu einem einheitlichen morphologischen Organ, 

 welches vielleicht passend als Pilzwurzel, Mycorhiza, bezeichnet 

 werden kann." As the word comes from the Greek and good usage 

 requires doubling the letter r in compounding, we now write it, 

 mycorrhiza. 



Conflicting Claims of Discovery: — Immediately after publica- 

 tion of Frank's epochal work there was a rather entertaining flurry 

 of papers. Some people wished to call attention to their own work, 

 published earlier than Frank's, while others desired the world to 

 know they had often seen exactly what Frank had described. 

 Several pressed the claims of Kamienski as the discoverer of the 

 mycorrhiza, but as we read his 1884 paper we find only this vague 

 statement: "I suppose, moreover, without being able to confirm it, 

 that the fungus which grows on Monotropa is the same which lives 

 parasitically on roots of conifers and other trees. This fungus de- 

 forms the root and occasions their dichotomy. I have found indeed, 

 among the roots of Monotropa, a great quantity of other roots which 

 were very fine, deformed, and belonging to trees which grew all there 

 about : they were so interlaced that the mycelium which webbed them 

 on touching might be said to be interblended." 



Frank's Antagonists: — Then, too, there was a persistent effort 

 to label mycorrhizal fungi as mere harmless parasites like the leaf- 

 spot fungi. Robert Hartig was a particularly active opponent of 

 Frank ; and Hartig's views were held in later years by the American, 

 McDougall. Frank spent little time in advancing mycorrhizal 



