1 902 spring Fungi 125 



Plant parasites are also to the fore at this period of the 

 year, and an early worker should look out for these. First 

 cress seeds that damp off are generally attacked by Pythium 

 de Baryanum or an allied species. This is an interesting 

 find to the student of fungi, as it enables him to see for 

 himself the sexual process, which has become obsolete or 

 entirely wanting in the great majority of fungi. 



Later on, when our attention is directed to the pretty 

 blooms of the wind-flower {Anemone nemorosa), we note that 

 its leaves are attacked by two parasites. The one consists 

 of a small white cup which, viewed with a pocket-lens, is 

 really a very pretty object. This was known in former 

 years as ^cidium leucospermum, and some German author- 

 ities claimed that it was the secidial condition of Puccinea 

 fusca ; but this theory has been disproved by the researches 

 of the late Mr Soppitt, who undoubtedly proved that it was 

 an Endophyllum, a result I had myself ascertained concur- 

 rently. The spores of an ^cidium on germination put out 

 a germ-tube, which enters the host plant by its stomata; 

 those of Endophyllum produce a promycelium and then ab- 

 strict promycelial spores. The other parasite to be found on 

 the wind-flower consists of dark blackish-brown dust, which 

 covers all the surface of the leaf and is known as Puccinea 

 fusca. This, on microscopic examination, shows two super- 

 imposed spherical cells on a hyaline pedicel, and constitutes 

 the character of the genus Puccinea. It was in former days 

 regarded as the sori of a fern, so distorted are the leaves of 

 the plant by this parasite, and it is thus referred to in Ray's 

 'Synopsis' (3rd edition, 1724): *'This capillary was gathered 

 by the Conjuror of Chalgrave," and was afterwards referred 

 to as the Conjuror of Chalgrave's fern. 



In the month of April, and sometimes later, we notice the 

 wild junipers marked with an amber excrescence of a fusi- 

 form shape. This is known as Gymnosporangium clavarice- 

 forme. It is really only another form of Puccinea, the 

 characters of which I briefly set out above ; but in this 

 case the spores (technically called teleutospores) are im- 

 mersed in a gelatinous matrix. The secidia of this species 

 are not so cup-shaped as those of Endophyllum leucospermum, 

 but are at first flask-shaped, and then cylindrical and torn 



