74 J. SAUNDERS witches' BROOMS. 



and says : " the asci occur on the leaves in June and July. 

 I found them on the one figured in Tubeuf, p. 160, and the same 

 opinion is expressed Ijy the authors of a ' Text Book of Botany,' 

 1903, wliicli was the joint work of four German professors." 

 Thanks to the skill in microscopic work of Mr. W. H. Burrell, 

 the presence of this fungus was detected on the leaves of a broom 

 from Chaul End. Mr. Burrell remarked in a letter of 2nd July, 

 1901 : " the under surface of the leaves showed many spores." 



In Stockwood Park, near Lviton, a hornbeam-tree, probably 

 at least 100 years old, was first observed in Febiiiary, 1904, to 

 have produced as many as ten large brooms. In this instance 

 the branching of these growths was more open, and the winter- 

 buds were smaller than on the normal l^rauches. The twigs were 

 tortuous, and the nodes swollen and distorted. In each example 

 the point of origin of the broom was much distended ; the branch 

 ceased to extend laterally, and with one exception assiuned an 

 erect position ; in the latter instance it was pendent from an 

 attenuated branch of about ten feet in length. At a casual glance 

 it appeared as though the Ijranches had been cut off, and the 

 broom had developed from the point of injury, but upon a closer 

 inspection it was evident that the apices of the branches had 

 curved upwards, the growth being continued in that direction. 

 In some cases there was an interval of six or eight inches beneath 

 the group of branchlets which formed the broom, and above the 

 origin of the curvature. (See fig. 1.) 



In August of the same year, it was observed that many of the 

 leaves were partially withered, suggesting the presence of a 

 parasitic fungus. Microscopic examination proved the presence 

 of the fruitiug-stage of a Taphrina on the under surface of the 

 foliage. The spores were brown, ovoid, nearly smooth, and 

 measured about 6 by 9 /*. The parasite was Taphrina 

 Carpinus, Rostr. (=^Exoascus Carpini, Eostr.). The brooms on 

 this mature tree were very different in general appearance from 

 those on the young trees at Chaul End referred to above. 



On an old hornlieam-tree on Beech Hill, Luton, there are two 

 small brooms on the higher branches which resemble those in 

 Stockwood Park just described. On a neigh1)ouring hornlieam, 

 the trunk of which is about six feet in circumference, there is on 

 the main stem a dense growth which occurs just below the origin 

 of the main branches and extends over quite one-half of the 

 girth of the tree. The twigs are small, rarely branched, and 

 short-lived, the last point being attested by the great proportion 

 of dead twigs which are present. There are no large branches to 

 continue the growth outwards indefinitely, but all the branchlets 

 extend to nearly the same distance from the tree-trunk. On 

 2nd August, 1904, twigs from this growth were gathered on 

 which many of the leaves showed brown spots, resembling the 

 diseased condition that is due to the presence of a parasitic 

 fungus. They were carefully examined under a microscope, and 

 no traces of spores or mycelium-threads could be detected. They 



