Pucecinia oe 
OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING PUCCINIA PATTERSONIANA AND 
PUCCINIA MORENIANA.! 
E. B. MAINS. 
Puccinia Pattersoniana was described by Dr. J. C. Arthur? from 
material collected by F. W. Anderson at Sandcoulee, Cascade County, 
Montana, in July, 1888. The host was a grass, Agropyron spicatum 
(Pursh.) Rydb., and this rust has since been found on Elymus con- 
densatus Presl., E. triticoides Buckl., and Sitanion jubatum J. G. Smith 
in Oregon, Washington, Utah, California, and New Mexico. Puccinia 
Pattersoniana is unique among the grass rusts in that it has verrucose 
teliospores with the markings arranged in longitudinal lines. While 
studying some collections of this rust, another interesting character 
was found in this species. It was noticed that chloral hydrate and 
iodine, which was being used to bring out the pore character of the 
urediniospores, stained the pedicels of the teliospores a dark blue. A 
study of other collections in the Arthur Herbarium, including the type, 
showed that this character held true for all. The pedicels stained very 
heavily, many becoming a very dark blue, appearing almost black for 
a greater part of their length. Herbarium specimens of this rust when 
sectioned and treated with iodine, showed the stain only in the pedicels 
of the teliospores, the mycelium from which they arose and the pedicels 
of the urediniospores not staining. This reaction of iodine appears 
similar to that found in some of the Ascomycetes (Plicaria, etc.), where 
the apical portion of the ascus takes a similar stain. 
Further interesting light was thrown on this fungus in the summer 
of 1920 by Prof. A. O. Garrett,’ who noted that apparently the only 
aecia associated with Puccinia Pattersoniana at Gogorza, Summit Coun- 
ty, Utah, were on Brodiaea Douglasivi, supposedly belonging to the au- 
toecious Uromyces Brodiaeae Ellis & Hark. Prof. Garrett suggests that 
these aecia might be in reality the aecial stage of Puccinia Pattersoni- 
ana, since the latter was especially abundant there, and he was not 
able to find any further development of the rust on Brodiaea. Un- 
fortunately attempts to prove this connection were unsuccessful, since 
the teliospores from collections sent by Prof. Garrett failed to germinate 
the next spring. It occurred to the writer, however, that some definite 
evidence might be obtained as to this connection by the method so suc- 
cessfully used by Tranzschel in connecting several heteroecious rusts 
with their aecial stage. In making these connections, he made use of 
the observations made by Dietel* and Fischer,’ who noted that a num- 
1 Contribution from the Botanical Department, Purdue University Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station. 
2 Arthur, J. C. Bull. Torrey Club 33, p. 29, 1906. 
3 Garrett, A. O. Mycologia 13, p. 104 and 110, 1921. 
4Dietel, P. Uredinales, In Engler & Prantl. Natiirliche Pflanzenfamilien I. 1** 
p. 69. 1897. 
5 Fischer, Ed. Beitrige Kryptogamen Flora Schweiz 1, p. 109, 1898. 
