Sorosporium Ellisii Winter, a composite species 



H. S. Jackson 



In October, 1907, the writer collected a Sorosporium on 

 Aristida dichotoma in the vicinity of Newark, Delaware, and 

 found on examination that it agreed with specimens on the same 

 host referred to Sorosporium Ellisii Winter. An examination of 

 the specimens in Ellis & Ev. N. A. Fungi, led me to believe that 

 Sorosporium Ellisii as described by Winter was a composite 

 species. 



Winter based his Sorosporium Ellisii on two collections sent 

 him by Mr. J. B. Ellis. • One of these collections was made by 

 Mr. Ellis on Andropogon virginicus at Newfield, N. J., Oct., 1880; 

 the other on Aristida dichotoma by Mr. Wm. Trimble in Chester 

 Co., Pa., Sept., 1880, and communicated to Mr. Ellis by Dr. 

 Martin. Recently I had the opportunity of examining material in 

 the Ellis and other collections in the herbarium of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, and became convinced that the form on Andro- 



P 



m is specifically distinct from tne one on sinsuuu. 



In separating these two forms into species, the question arises 



as to which shall be 



•porium Ellisii 



-w w which snail De quoieu a.* uic ^y^"- "» ^•""•v" 



The original description appeared simultaneously in Hedwigia 22 : 

 2 - Ja 1881. and in Bull. Torrev Club 10 : 7. Ja 1883. In Hed- 



wigia, Aristida is the first host mentioned, while in the Bulletin of 



th^ Tr-v....... r> _*._•_ _i r*i..i_ A*.J*,*j>„™t, la m^ntinned first. It is 



the To 



seen that as far as the original description is concerned neither 

 specimen can be said to have priority. As to the date of collec- 

 tion, the form on Aristida was collected in September, 1880, while 

 that on Andropogon was taken in October, 1880, as is shown by 

 the data on the envelopes in the Ellis collection. This fact might 



m 



However, Winter named his fungus in honor of Ellis, and it 

 seems proper to consider the specimen collected by Ellis as the 



type. 



147 



