Lei ARY 
Mew YURR 
BYITANWAL 
Gaeen 
HELMINTHOSPORIUM SPP. ON CEREALS AND 
SUGARCANE IN INDIA, 
BARI. 
(DISEASES OF ZEA MAYS AND SORGHUM VULGARE 
CAUSED BY SPECIES OF HELMINTHOSPORIUM.) 
BY a 
M. MITRA, MSc., 
First Assistant to the Imperial Mycologist. 
[Received for publication on 2nd June, 1922.] 
1. Introduction. 
MANY species of the genus Helminthosporium are common parasites on 
various members of the Graminec, and some species cause considerable damage 
? 
fo crops, é.g., “ stripe disease of barley ” and “ blight of maize ” are well known 
in America and Europe. Saccardo in his “Sylloge Fungorum” has recorded 
about 30 species on various Graminew and there are a few other species which 
have been recorded since the publication of the last volume. In India, most 
of the important crops such as wheat, oats, barley, maize, great millet (jowar), 
rice, Eleusine, Panicum frumentaceum and sugarcane are commonly attacked 
by species of Helminthosporium, and damage in some cases is considerable. 
They generally attack the leaves and ears and form light yellowish brown 
spots which in most cases coalesce and destroy the leaves. 
The object of this study was to determine the range of the host plants 
of species parasitic on cereals and sugarcane and to ascertain whether (a) 
morphologically similar forms from different hosts vary in range of host, and 
(6) whether morphologically unlike forms have the same host range. An 
attempt was also made to secure the perfect stage by cultivating the species 
on various kinds of media. 
The following species on cultivated cereals and sugarcane have been 
recorded from Indial: H. Avene Br. and Cav. (oats), H. graminewm Rabh. 
and H. teres Sacc. (barley), H. turcicum Pass. (maize and great millet), H. 
1 Butler, E. J. “‘ Fungi and Disease in Plant,” 1918. 
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