31 



PLASMODIOPHORALES 



Van Wissenlingh, C. 1898. Jalirb. Wiss. Bnt. 31: 619. 

 Vonwiller, P. 1918. Arcli. Protistk. 38: 279. 

 Vouk, V. 1913. Die Naturw. 1: 81. 



Walker. J. C. 1939. Jour. Agr. Res. .59: 815. 



Wellman, F. L. 1930. U. S. Dept. .\pr. Tech. Bull. 781. 



Winge, O. 1913. Ark. Bot. 1-2, no. 9: 1. 



EXCLUDED SPECIES 



P. ALNI ( Wor.) Moeller, 1885. Ber. Deut. Bot. Ges. 3: 10:3. 

 Figs. 1-4. 1890. Ibid., 8: .'15. 



In 1866 Woronin found an organism in galls on 

 the root.s of Alniis gliifinosa which he named Schin:ia 

 Alni and believed to be a hyphomycetou.s fungus. 

 Gravis discussed its identity in 1879. and in 188.5 

 Moeller placed it in Plasmod'wphora where it was 

 subsequently retained by Schroeter ('86, '97). Since 

 that time its identity and relationship have been tlie 

 subject of extended controversy. In 1886 Brunchorst 

 made an intensive study of the galls of Alnus spe- 

 cies and found no evidence of a plasmodium. Instead, 

 he found a mycelioid fungus with numerous sporan- 

 gia wliich he named Frankia .iiibtilis and believed to 

 be related to the Mucorales or Saprolegniales. This 

 led Moeller ('90) to restudy the causal organism, 

 after which he retracted his former view and con- 

 firmed Woronin's and Brunchorst's observations on 

 the presence of a mycelium in the host cells. Frank 

 confirmed these observations in 1891, but lie was un- 

 certain as to the nature of Frankia subtUis. While he 

 pointed out that it might well be a form of Lepio- 

 thrix, he was nonetheless inclined to the view that 

 it is a mycorrhizal fungus. In 1900, according to 

 Maire and Tison ('09, p. 242), Chodat studied the 

 organism in question and asserted that it is a species 

 of Plasmodiophora. Two years later, after an inten- 

 sive study of the tubercles on AIniis roots, Schibata 

 came to tlie conclusion that no hyphomvcetous fun- 

 gus was present and tliat tlie galls are caused by an 

 organism with bacterium-like filaments which even- 

 tually become bacteroid and deformed. In 1901 

 Bjorkenheim figured and described fungus hyphae 

 in the galls, but three years later Keissler reported 

 the organism again as Plasmodiophora Alni. 



Finally, in 1909, Maire and Tison undertook a 

 cytological study of tlie tubercles and confirmed the 

 observations of Shibata. They found an abundance 

 of partially digested mycelial filaments, the ends of 

 which became vesicular and later segmented into a 

 large number of irregular chromatic bodies. Maire 

 and Tison changed the name of the organism to 

 FrankieUa Alni, but since that time Keissler and 

 I.ohwag ('37) have reported it again as Plasmodio- 

 phora Alni on Alnus species in China. 



P. ELAEAGNI Schroeter, 1889. Cohn's Krypt. Fl. Schle- 

 siens 3: 134. 1897, Engler u. PrantI, Nat. Pflanzenf. 

 1:7. 



Schroeter gave this name to an organism wliich 

 he believed to be the cause of galls on the roots of 

 Elacafintis angtistifolia. It seems that he was not 

 aware that Brunchorst ('86) had already found the 

 same organism on F. anr/nstifolia, F. argi-niea, F. 



pitnc/ens, and Hippophae rhamnoides and named it 

 Frankia subtilis. Claire and Tison ('09) also ob- 

 served similar galls on the //. rhamnoides, and since 

 they found the causal organism to be of the same 

 tvpe as F. Alni, they renamed it FrankieUa Flacagni. 

 It has subsequently been reiJorted as Plasmodio- 

 phora Flaeac/?ii hy J aap ('07) and Sydow ('21) from 

 Switzerland and New Zealand. 



P. VITIS Viala and Sauvageau, 189;2. C. R. Acad. Sci. 

 Paris 114: 1.558; Jour, de Bot. 6:355, pi. 13. 



This species was described by Viala and Sauva- 

 geau as causing the "brunissure " disease of grape 

 leaves in Europe and the U. S. A. The disease had 

 previously been observed by several workers, and in 

 1891 Pastre gave an account of its external symp- 

 toms. It was subsequently reported in England 

 (Anony., '93; Cooke, '93; Massee, '93), Italy 

 (Briosi, '94; Briosi and Cavara, '94; Cuboni, '94; 

 Solla, '01), Germany (Moritz and Busse, '94; Beh- 

 rens, '99), Algeria (Debray, '94a, '94b). Holland 

 (Bos, '95), and France (Frilleiux, '95; Roze, '99). 

 Cooke believed that the clubbing of vine roots also 

 was due to this organism. 



The presence or absence of a causal organism in 

 this disease as well as its identity and relationship 

 have been the subject of much debate. In 1894 De- 

 bray pointed out that the organism was more closely 

 related to Ceratium than to Plasmodiophora, and in 

 the following year he established a new genus, Pseu- 

 docommis, to include it. In 1895 Massee reported 

 that the plasniodia and amoebae figured by ^'iala and 

 Sauvageau were nothing but vacuolated tannin vesi- 

 cles and the reticulate primordial utricle of the host 

 cell. Behrens likewise questioned the presence of a 

 causal organism in this disease, but in the same j'ear 

 Roze reported that P. litis occurs widely and is 

 almost a universal parasite. Ducomet ('03, '07) con- 

 firmed Massee's view that "brunissure " is the result 

 of certain environmental and physiological condi- 

 tions. Maire and Tison (09) also reported that no 

 organism was present in the diseased tissues which 

 they examined, and they thus concluded that the so- 

 called plasniodia were products of cell degeneration. 



P. CALIFORNICAE Viala and Sauvageau, 1893. C. R. 

 Acad. Sci. Paris 115:67-69. 



Viala and Sauvageau believed this s])ecies to be 

 the cause of a vine disease in California, and it was 

 subsequently reported as such by Casali and Fer- 

 raris ('00) in Italy. Massee ('95) pointed out that 

 the disease is physiological and that the rejiorted 

 amoebae and plasniodia are nothing more than tan- 

 nin vesicles and reticulated host jirotoplasm. Ravaz 



